We have a mobile QB don't we?

[nasthemasta]

We've all seen Christian move around the field. Is he RG3, no but the guy is moblie and is smart. I really hope Musgrave uses his noggin and incorporates the read option into our playbook. The threat of AP alone is frightening, imagine having to worry about Ponder keeping it and throwing out of it. Now i know that our entire offense isn't ever going to be read option based like the skins or seahawks, but we should definitely have the read option in our game plan and run around 10 snaps a game to keep the defense on its heals. Ponder only has to keep it once maybe twice to make our opponents start guessing and cheating. If we draft a young stud wide-out (Allen, Hopkins) to stretch the field throwing out of the read option with Peterson and Harvin's quick game would be unstoppable. Get to work bill we can have another sick year if you know how to utilize our weapons and integrate todays NFL into our gameplan

[HSmith22]

I'de rather see us install the pistol formation like San Francisco runs so AP can still line up in the i/singleback rather than offset to the side. When that back sits behind the quarterback, the backers do not have a clear view of what he’s doing. Everybody’s talking about the read-option but you can run downhill power games, counters, gaps and all that from the pistol. And those counter steps and trap steps that backs take in this day and age — sometimes those linebackers lose it.

The Pistol was invented as a way to blend a traditional shotgun formation with a single back offense. Chris Ault was the one who came up with the Pistol offense. Ault on the Pistol Offense: The first premise is the running back has to be the guy carrying the load for you. The quarterback has to be a threat. Well Check. Check. AP carrys the load for the Vikings and Ponder is a rushing threat.

The most important thing is you can run any offense you’ve been running with the Pistol. The Pistol isn’t a gimmick. It's not some college read-option offense. The offense is being validated at footballs highest level and on its biggest stage next week. It’s a system designed for power running, but works best with a quarterback who keeps defenses on their toes, not knowing if he’s going to run, hand-off or pass. The Pistol works very well with athletic quarterbacks who can run but what it does best is allow you to run any number of plays, including passing plays. Sure it's mostly about allowing a team to employ a very strong running game but it’s not just the read play itself, it’s also the play-action pass off of it. This is how it was created, and then they advanced the pistol run game — the read part of it — two years later.

In the 49ers version of the formation, Kaepernick lines up four yards behind center, as opposed to seven yards behind like in the true shotgun. Instead of lining up next to Kaepernick in the backfield Frank Gore is three yards directly behind him. But with the way the 49ers run the Pistol you can only effectively stop one of them on each play. The Green Packers focused on stopping Gore which allowed Kaep to rush for 181 yards. The Niners knew the Falcons defense would focus their sights in on Kaepernick which exposed the middle rushing lanes allowing Gore to burn them. The 49ers use a lot of the read option stuff but their Pistol formation has many more advantages for the 49ers offense. It confuses the defense by using play-action first of all making the passing game more effective and then you got the counters and draws making the run game more effective.

It's true the Pistol works best if the QB has fast legs. Ponder isn't quite the threat that Kaepernick is but I'de say he's plenty quick and has a spring in his step when he needs it. The Vikings could definitely run a lot of this read-option run game stuff but Peterson will have to be more patient getting the ball.

[100%CHEESE FREE]

I worry that our OC is not nearly innovative enough to mix any of this into our mix of plays. First and foremost he'd have to ditch the business cards he's been using as his play sheet.

[LordJohn]

It's not a bad idea to mix in the pistol a little bit. Harvin being out definitely made our offense more 1 dimensional in the second half of the season. He's the main guy we can use to mix things up with end-arounds and other misdirection plays.

As for Musgrave, we're built for a bread and butter offense right now, so I'm not neccesarily going to kill him for a lack of innovation. But he's terrible in the redzone, which is inexcusible considering we have the best Running Back in football. He always tries to get cute and throw screen passes down there. Our red zone play cost us at least two games last year (Washington and the first Green Bay game).