Playbooks

Scheme Playbook

Shotgun Offense

SchemeOffense

3Formations

36Sets

394Plays

Overview

Shotgun Offense is a single-minded scheme book: 382 of its 394 plays live in Shotgun across 33 separate sets, which is 97% of everything you can call. There is no under center run game to fall back on, no Singleback or I Form package to change the picture, and no Pistol layer. What you get instead is depth: 33 Shotgun sets covering 23, 11, 00, 20, 12, 10 and 13 personnel, so the same base alignment can show you two backs and three tight ends on one snap and five wide on the next. The concept list is built around Play Action, Pass Play, Power, Power Run, Flat, Motion, Counter, Run Play, Spot, Cover 3 Beater, Toss and Dive, which means the run game is real (FB Dive and 0 1 Trap are both in here) but it is all run from depth with the quarterback already back.

The only non Shotgun formations are Goal Line Offense with 9 plays in a single set and Hail Mary with 3 plays across 2 sets, including Goal Post. That is 12 plays total, or 3% of the book. Practically speaking, Goal Line Offense is your entire short yardage and inside the two answer, and Hail Mary is a clock situation tool. Everything else, every drive, every third down, every two minute possession, comes out of Shotgun.

Choosing Shotgun Offense over a team book means trading formation variety for set variety inside one alignment. The upside is enormous: you learn one snap picture, one blocking depth, one set of pre snap reads, and then you flip through 33 sets with the same muscle memory. Motion and Spot concepts give you man beaters, the listed Cover 3 Beater plays give you an answer to the most common user zone shell, and Power, Counter, Toss and Dive give you enough gap scheme variety that opponents cannot sit in a pass rush look. The player who picks this book wants a spread first, no huddle friendly offense where formation subs and personnel groups do the disguising instead of the formation itself.

Scheme Fit

This book wants a quarterback comfortable throwing from a spread picture with enough mobility to escape interior pressure, since 97% of your snaps come from Shotgun and you have no under center protection to hide behind. It rewards a receiving back who can win on Flat and Motion concepts, a versatile tight end who can block in 12 and 13 personnel and still release, and offensive line that can hold up on Power and Counter without the extra depth an under center handoff would buy. Pick Shotgun Offense if you are a spread first, no huddle style caller who would rather master one alignment across 33 sets than juggle five different formations, and who trusts a short yardage plan that runs through a single Goal Line Offense set.

Example Plays from this Playbook

Find plays by concept, not by formation

Search every playbook by tag and personnel grouping, not just Shotgun Offense.

Open the playbook database

Strengths

Thirty three Shotgun sets in one book means nearly every audible slot you build can be another Shotgun look, so you can flip from 00 five wide to 13 heavy personnel without ever showing the defense a different snap depth or backfield read.
The 23, 20, 12 and 13 personnel groups all live inside Shotgun here, so Power, Counter, Toss and Dive come with real bodies in front of them while the quarterback still sits back, giving you gap scheme runs that read like pass looks pre snap.
Motion and Spot concepts across this many sets create easy man beaters, and the listed Cover 3 Beater plays give you a built in counter to the single high user shell most opponents default to on third down.
Play Action out of Shotgun with 20 and 12 personnel sells the same run action your Power Run and Counter calls use, so your play action rollouts and shot plays come off looks the defense has already been punished by.
Because 97% of the book is one formation, hot routes and pre snap adjustments transfer set to set, which lets you run a fast no huddle tempo without relearning route spacing every call.

Weaknesses

There is no under center package at all, so you never get the true downhill lead run or the deep play action fake that comes from a hard turned back, and defenses can leave a light box knowing everything comes from depth.
Short yardage is completely dependent on the single Goal Line Offense set and its 9 plays, so once an opponent has seen those calls twice they can guess correctly inside the one yard line with no other heavy formation to switch to.
With only 12 plays outside Shotgun, an opponent who studies you needs to prepare for exactly one snap picture, which makes user pattern matching and pre snap safety rotation far easier against you than against a multi formation book.
Hail Mary is only 3 plays across 2 sets, including Goal Post, so your desperation and end of half package is thin and predictable if you actually need it.
The pass heavy concept mix leaves you exposed to nano blitz and interior pressure looks, because you cannot answer with a tight under center formation or a max protect play from a non Shotgun alignment.

Usage Tips

Build your audible package entirely inside Shotgun and split it by personnel: one 00 or 10 set for third and long, one 11 set as your base, and one 12 or 13 set for second and short so your run and pass calls come from matching pictures.

Save Goal Line Offense for actual goal line and fourth and one situations only, and mix its 9 plays deliberately, because it is the only heavy set in the entire book and you cannot afford to burn all of it early.

Lean on the Power, Power Run, Counter, Toss and Dive concepts out of 20 and 23 personnel Shotgun sets on second and medium, then run Play Action off the identical look on the next series when the linebackers start crashing.

Use Motion and Spot calls as your primary man beaters on third and five to eight, and reach for the Cover 3 Beater plays when you read a single high shell with a user in the deep middle.

Keep Hail Mary and Goal Post out of your audible slots entirely and call them from the full playbook only in true end of half or end of game situations, since three plays across two sets is not a package you can lean on.