ctpatsfan77

One of the things that some people noticed about the 2007 Patriots was their extensive use of the shotgun offense. (An interesting fact: the 2007 Patriots were the first team in NFL history to run the majority of their offensive plays from the shotgun.)

While I don't think it's been used quite as often this year as last year, there've been a number of drives this year where, even when not particularly necessary, Cassel's been playing essentially all shotgun. For example, in the second quarter of the Rams game, the Pats had an 11-play, 5-minute drive that ended in a FG to tie the game at 10 all. Of those 11 plays, nine were out of the shotgun.

So, my questions are--who is/was the driving force behind bringing the shotgun to NE? Do you think it's easier to run an offense out of the shotgun? Assuming Cassel goes elsewhere, do you think he'll lobby to use the shotgun as much as the Patriots have?

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"Momentum was quickly snatched away by New England, who once again proved that any Patriot, at any moment, can make a play." —Inside the NFL, Packers v. Patriots

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Fencer

Dick Cheney

nashvillepatsfan

Drew used to play out of the shotgun alot, so I don't think we can say this is a new thing for the Pats. Its easier to drop back, and see the field from that formation. Gives the QB a little more time. IMHO.

NJPatsfan26

Yeah he is.....just make sure to watch out....he might "miss".....

Pat the Pats Fan

I remember a time when we didn't use the shotgun that much, and it was when Woody was our center. High draft pick and couldn't snap in a shotgun formation? How did we miss that in our scouting?

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A sarcastic Bill Belichick on Tom Brady's finger injury, "It's not life threatening."

ctpatsfan77

But the Pats didn't use it all that much even as late as 2005 and 2006. It wasn't until 2007 that we saw them running entire drives out of shotgun merely because they wanted to, as opposed to needing to (interestingly enough, when Cassel ran the two-minute drill against the LOLphins in 2005, he ran the "tying" drive out of the shotgun on 9 of 12 snaps).

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"Momentum was quickly snatched away by New England, who once again proved that any Patriot, at any moment, can make a play." —Inside the NFL, Packers v. Patriots

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LuRkeR1978

IIRC, The first time I saw the Pats run a shotgun offense was in 1996. I think they said that Ray Perkins installed it after Bledsoe asked to try it out.

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LuckyGandolff3x

I remember Brady saying he preferred the shotgun because it allowed him to see the field better pre-snap. Maybe most of this years[and last years] playbook was drawn up based on Brady's preferences?

T-ShirtDynasty

I was going to post the same thing, but I can't remember where I read it or heard it or if was from TFB's own mouth or just 'reported' that he preferred the shotgun because of the pre-snap reads. (should be called the Tommy-Gun by the way )

patfanken

Not to sound like an old foggy (which I proudly am ). In its latest incarnation, the shot gun formation was used by the 49's extensively in the 1950's

Come to think of it if you go back further up until the late 40's MOST teams in the country used a shot gun as their base formation, and they called it the single wing. In THAT formation the QB was more likely to be a blocking back. the ball was usually snapped directly to the RB, who then was a true "triple threat' (Pass run Kick). there was a lot of misdirection and counter action, designed to confuse the defense (ala what we saw vs the Fins in our first game, only much more complex)

In the middle 40's the T formation and Wing T formation began to become more popular starting with the Chicago Bears with Sid Luckman at QB. By the mid 50's the single wing was becoming extinct. By the 1970's there was only ONE HS in MA who still ran it. (NQuincy HS) I had to defend it and it was a B!TCH, especially when you only faced it once a year.

Once again, more than what you probably wanted to know.