Wing Close

Wing Close is the compressed, downhill look of the Pistol formation. It uses 12 personnel with one tight end attached inline and the second tight end stacked off the hip in a wing alignment, while the receivers work from reduced splits instead of the wide spacing found in the more spread oriented Pistol sets. The quarterback sits in the short shotgun depth with the HB directly behind him. That alignment keeps the run game balanced to both sides and gives you a true extra gap on the wing side, which forces the defense to declare its run fit before the snap.

What separates Wing Close from other Pistol sets is how it builds everything off the same backfield action. HB Zone, HB Stretch, HB Slam, and Cheat HB Counter give you inside, outside, and misdirection runs from one look. PA Stretch Shot, PA Boot Levels, PA Boot Lt, and PA Cheat Deep Post Stop then attack the linebackers and safeties who crash on those runs. RPO Power Alert Outs adds a pre packaged read that punishes defenses who load the box against the two tight end surface. The Cheat tagged plays (Cheat TE Screen, Cheat HB Counter, PA Cheat Deep Post Stop) add gadget elements with built in motion or shifted action that can pull defenders out of their assignments.

The personnel package creates matchup leverage in two ways. Against base defense, your tight ends release into space on TE Attack and the boot concepts where linebackers must carry them across the field. Against nickel or dime, the wing TE and the extra blocker turn the run game into a numbers advantage, especially for a Power HB. Tight splits also mean receivers like the flanker on Flanker Dig and Z Spot get free releases and easy inside leverage, since corners cannot press cleanly without giving up the outside.