The shotgun formation is an alignment used by the offensive team in American and Canadian football. In the shotgun formation there is no quarterback, and the snap is thrown a distance of about five to eight yards behind the center away from the line of scrimmage to the tailback, in contrast to most formations in current use where the ball is handed to a quarterback directly behind the center. Also, eligible forward pass receivers who would in other formations be close to or behind the interior line players are instead deployed widely. The shotgun formation is usually used for forward passing plays. The advantage of this position is that the back receiving the snap saves time by already being in a safe position to throw the ball and consequently has more time to locate an open wide receiver or other receiver. The primary disadvantage of this formation is that defense can expect the play to be a pass; however some teams frequently run from this or a similar formation wherein a running back is close to the tailback. Some who have played both "T" quarterback and shotgun tailback also complain that having to receive a thrown, as opposed to a handed, snap forces them to take their eyes off of the defense. Sources disagree as to whether a thrown or handed snap incurs greater risk of loss of team possession of the ball.
The formation got its name after it was used by a professional football club, the San Francisco 49ers, in 1960. Combining elements of the short punt and spread formations ("spread" in that it had receivers spread widely instead of close to or behind the interior line players), it was said to be like a "shotgun" in spraying receivers around the field like a scatter-shot gun. Formations similar or identical to the shotgun used decades previously would be called names such as "spread double wing". Short punt formations (so called because the distance between the snapper and the ostensible punter is shorter than in long punt formation) don't usually have as much emphasis on wide receivers.
At times the formation has been more common in Canadian football, which allows only three downs to move ten yards downfield instead of the American game's four. Canadian teams are therefore more likely to find themselves with long yardage to make on the penultimate down, and therefore more likely to line up in the shotgun to increase their opportunities for a large gain.
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