“Everybody thinks the pistol is just a read, but the pistol is a formation," Ault told the Mercury News. "And from that formation, if you're a power offense, you can run the power.

The pistol formation, in which the quarterback lines up not under center but closer to the line of scrimmage than the shotgun, with a running back directly behind the quarterback, became popular in ...

Now that Kaepernick has led the 49ers to the Super Bowl from the pistol, the man who invented the offense, former Nevada coach Chris Ault, is celebrating what he has accomplished -- and predicting big ...

NEW ORLEANS — The pistol offense has exploded this season thanks to Washington Redskins rookie Robert Griffin III and the Niners’ Colin Kaepernick, among others. But the question that has ...

This offense was developed at University of Nevada by head coach Chris Ault in an effort to add a power running game aspect to his spread formation.

NFL: Pistol offense, run by Colin Kaepernick of the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, comes from college — Nevada-Reno — features running quarterback and gives defensive coordinators headaches.

Below is a succession of pictures that demonstrate the deception used from the pistol formation. The top picture shows the Texans in a heavy run, power formation with the addition of the pistol.

The offense got its name - the pistol - because the quarterback lines up about 4 yards behind center as opposed to about 6 in the shotgun.

The most compelling example of the 49ers' Pistol offense came in the divisional round of the 2012 playoffs, when Kaepernick broke Michael Vick's single-game rushing record for a quarterback with ...