Playbooks
Franchise Playsheet
SOT
PlaysheetOffenseOverview
SOT is a 30 play situational playsheet built almost entirely out of the gun. Shotgun accounts for 24 of the 30 plays (80%) spread across five sets, and Pistol supplies the remaining six (20%) from a single set. That is a deliberately narrow structure: you are not getting a full under center run game or a heavy goal line package, you are getting a compact shotgun operating system with one Pistol wrinkle bolted on for downhill run looks. At 30 plays it is larger than 20% of the game's 42 offensive franchise playsheets, so it is a mid sized book by page count but very deep in the one alignment family it cares about.
The concept list tells you how it wants to score. The run game is gap and inside zone based: Power, Power Run, Iso, Inside Zone and Zone Run, with Orbit HB Power as the signature shotgun run that pairs orbit motion with a pulling guard. The pass game is built on layered spacing and coverage specific answers: Drive, Spacing, Spot, Cover 3 Beater and Cover 4 Beater. Those are high low and horizontal stretch concepts, not deep shot dumps, which means this playbook lives on second and medium, third and short to medium, and two minute drills where you need completions in front of the sticks. The 45 Quick Base entry out of Pistol gives you a quick game snap from a different backfield depth so you are not showing the identical alignment picture every play.
Personnel range is the real selling point. You have 21, 20, 12, 11 and 10 groupings available inside one playbook, which means you can go two back power football, empty leaning four wide spread, or a two tight end run set without ever leaving the shotgun family your audibles are built around. Choosing SOT over a broader book means giving up formation variety in exchange for personnel variety: your opponent has to guess which body type is on the field rather than which alignment, and every one of your run and pass calls comes off a shared pre snap picture that is easy to disguise with motion and hot routes.
Scheme Fit
This playbook wants an accurate quarterback who reads leverage fast and can work the underneath grid of Drive, Spacing and Spot, plus enough scramble ability to escape when the gun protection breaks down since there are no under center play action rollouts to lean on. It needs a physical downhill back for the Power, Iso and Inside Zone calls and a second back or receiving back who can win on orbit motion and check downs out of 21 and 20 personnel, along with guards who pull cleanly for gap scheme. Pick SOT if you are a shotgun native player who wants to change personnel instead of formation, punish coverage with labeled Cover 3 and Cover 4 answers, and mix in a real two back gun run game that most spread books do not offer.
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Strengths
- Five separate Shotgun sets covering 24 plays means you can build an entire audible package inside one alignment family, flipping between Power, Iso, Inside Zone and the Drive or Spacing concepts without the defense getting a formation tell off your personnel swap.
- The 21 and 20 personnel shotgun looks let you run Orbit HB Power with a lead back and orbit motion, a two back gun run that most pass heavy shotgun books cannot replicate, and the motion itself pulls a defender out of the box before the snap.
- Carrying dedicated Cover 3 Beater and Cover 4 Beater concepts alongside Spacing, Spot and Drive means you have a labeled answer for both single high and quarters instead of hot routing your way out of it after the snap.
- The single Pistol set (six plays, 20%) is a genuine change of picture rather than filler: 45 Quick Base and the Pistol run calls hit downhill with the back squared to the line, which beats defenders who have been reading your shotgun run keys all game.
- Five personnel groups (21, 12, 20, 11, 10) inside two formations lets you use formation subs to put your best receiving back or blocking tight end on the field in any grouping while your audible list stays identical.
Weaknesses
- Eighty percent Shotgun with zero under center formations means no true play action rollout off a downhill run fake and no standard hard count under center looks, so opponents can sit in pass coverage on obvious passing downs without respecting a run fake.
- Thirty plays across only two formations and six sets is a small menu by shotgun standards, and a repeat opponent will chart your six sets quickly and start guessing your Power and Inside Zone calls by alignment.
- The concept list is short to intermediate: Drive, Spacing, Spot and the coverage beaters all work the middle and the flats, with no listed deep shot family, so a defense playing soft with two high safeties can squeeze every throw underneath.
- One Pistol set carrying only six plays is thin insurance. Once the defense sees that your Pistol package is a run first six play list, they can crash the box on that alignment and you have no second Pistol set to counter with.
- Goal line and short yardage are exposed. Power and Iso from the gun are your best answers inside the five, and without heavy under center personnel the defense can stack the box against a shotgun handoff.
Usage Tips
Build your primary audible package out of a Shotgun 11 or 10 personnel set and load it with Spacing, Drive and a Cover 3 Beater, then use it on every third and four to third and eight so you always have both the man and zone answer on one flip.
Put a Shotgun 21 or 20 set in your second audible slot for first and ten and second and short, calling Orbit HB Power and Iso out of the same look so the lead back alignment does not tip run direction.
Reach for the Pistol set on second and short and third and one where the defense expects gun, and lean on 45 Quick Base as your quick game change up rather than saving Pistol strictly for runs.
Use the Shotgun 12 personnel set to open drives: it sells run with two tight ends, and the Spot and Drive concepts hit exactly where a run committed linebacker vacates.
In two minute situations stay in the 10 personnel Shotgun set and hot route the back to a flat or angle route on Spacing, since this book's underneath concepts are built for sideline clock management, not for hail mary depth.
Formations in this playbook
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