[takethecake]

BHA makes some excellent points. Only thing I'd add, as a devil's advocate sort of thing, is that historically, the NFL has been good at "figuring out" offenses when given time, especially "gimmick" offenses. Fortunately, I think the Pistol formation is so multi-dimensional, especially with the players we have that run it, that it will be MUCH more difficult to figure out than the... Wildcat, for instance. I wouldn't even call the Pistol a gimmick offense. But the point is that even if all the players stay the same, and they learn the playbook even better, there's still a chance that some cunning DC's around the league could use gametape from last year to stop - well, slow down - the offense.