Editing Shotgun formation (section)

==History==
[[File:49ers-mediaguide-1961.jpg|thumb|right|The modern shotgun offense was developed by head coach Red Hickey of the San Francisco 49ers in 1960.]]

The shotgun evolved from the [[single wing]] and the similar double-wing spread; famed [[triple threat man]] [[Sammy Baugh]] has claimed that the shotgun was effectively the same as the version of the double-wing he ran at [[TCU Horned Frogs football|Texas Christian University]] in the 1930s.<ref>David, Howard and Johnny Unitas (1981?). "History of the Forward Pass". [[Mizlou Television Network]]. Available at FrontRowSportsEntertainment.com; retrieved 2010-05-24.</ref>

The formation was named by [[San Francisco 49ers]] head coach [[Red Hickey]], who systematized the modern shotgun offense in [[1960 San Francisco 49ers season|1960]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-31-me-passings31.2-story.html | title=Red Hickey, 89; NFL Player, Coach Invented Shotgun Formation | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=2006-03-31 | access-date=2012-05-29}}</ref> [[John Brodie]] was the first [[National Football League]] shotgun quarterback, beating out former starter [[Y. A. Tittle]] largely because he was mobile enough to effectively run the formation. 

The [[New York Jets]] briefly experimented with the shotgun during the middle of the [[Joe Namath]] era to give the bad-kneed and often immobile quarterback more time to set up plays by placing him deeper in the backfield. Three years before Dallas ushered in the modern era of the shotgun to the NFL, [[Joe Theismann]] of the [[1972 Toronto Argonauts season|Toronto Argonauts]] regularly employed the formation north of the border in the [[Canadian Football League]]. <ref> "Tell me to my Face", by Angelo Mosca with Steve Milton, Lulu Publishing, 2011 </ref> However, the formation was not used on a regular basis in the NFL until the {{nfly|1975}} season, and then only by the [[1975 Dallas Cowboys season|Dallas Cowboys]], who used the shotgun frequently with [[Roger Staubach]] at quarterback.  The Cowboy shotgun differed from the 49er shotgun as Staubach generally had a back next to him in the backfield (making runs possible), where Brodie was normally alone in the backfield. 

Since no other NFL teams used the formation during this time, some believed it had been invented by head coach [[Tom Landry]]. Instead, Landry simply dusted off the old innovation to address a pressing problem: keeping Staubach protected while an unusually young and inexperienced squad (12 rookies made the 1975 Cowboys roster) jelled. Dallas ended up in the [[Super Bowl X|Super Bowl]] that season, in no small part due to its new use of the old formation. The shotgun became a "signature" formation for the Cowboys, especially during third down situations.

The shotgun was adopted by more teams throughout the pass-happy late 1980s, and was part of almost every team's offense in the 1990s, eventually becoming a base formation for some teams in the late 2000s.