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Saturday, February 2, 2013 – Daily News 3B SUPER BOWL XLVII | Ravens vs. 49ers | 3 p.m. Sunday, CBS Pistol offense is the rage with Kaepernick By TIM DAHLBERG AP Sports Writer NEW ORLEANS (AP) — If the idea was simple, so was the way former Nevada coach Chris Ault went about mapping it out. White tape on the floor of the locker room. A rolled-up towel to simulate a football. And out of that came an offense that could win the San Francisco 49ers a Super Bowl. ''The tough part was there was nothing to compare it to,'' Ault said. ''It was a huge gamble at the time.'' It was also the kind of gamble most football coaches don't take. They're a conservative bunch by nature, not terribly eager to risk their reputations on unproven ideas that may or may not work. Line up the quarterback 4 yards behind center? Not a chance. Put the running back behind the quarterback instead of next to him as in the shotgun? Nope. Add in a read-option to allow the quarterback an opportunity to run? No way. Ault, though, didn't have much choice when he began tinkering in the locker room along with an assistant coach. He had returned to coaching the prior year, only to go a disappointing 5-7, and he needed something to make the most out of the recruits he was left with after the bigger schools made their picks. The pistol — named because it was a shortened version of the shotgun — was born in 2005, and Nevada went on to go 9-3 and win a conference championship. Ault tossed in the read-option two years later, just in time for a quarterback named Colin Kaepernick. His Wolf Pack began to win — and win a lot. Suddenly, other coaches started looking at what was happening and began traveling to Reno to see what this new-fangled offense was all about. Now Ault is being hailed as a coach who helped change the offensive landscape of football. ''I never had any vision of it being used in the pros,'' Ault said. ''The NFL is a copycat league. People don't do stuff like this.'' They are now, with several NFL teams incorporating elements of the pistol in their offenses. The Washington Redskins probably used it most this year to suit the talents of Robert Griffin III, and the 49ers began using it more and more to allow Kaepernick to run when he took over at quarterback. ''I think it will have staying power in the league,'' Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said. ''The beauty of it is and part of the genius of it is it's such a simple idea. It goes back to Nevada and coach Ault out there. You can run your whole offense on it. You aren't limited to an option type attack out of it.'' Whether the Ravens can stop the readoption that Kaepernick runs so effectively may be the key to the Super Bowl. But the problem with stopping Kaepernick from running the ball, as the Atlanta Falcons did so successfully, is that it opens up the running game for a back such as Frank Gore. And that, says Ault, was the basic plan of the offense to begin with. ''We designed it for that,'' he said. ''We want the running back to carry the football, that's the guy you're paying, so to speak, to run the ball. There was never a thought in my mind our quarterback is going to rush for this and that on our read play. The first thing we want is the ball in the running back's belly. Then the play takes care of itself.'' The concept of the pistol is that the ball gets to the running back quicker than it would out of a shotgun or if the quarterback is lined up under center, allowing him to run north and south more quickly. For passing plays, the quarterback is just 2 yards closer to the line of scrimmage than in the shotgun, giving him a clear view of the field. The benefit of adding the read option is that it forces the defensive end to make a decision on which way to go. If he commits the wrong way or hesitates for a split second, the hole opens up. ''They can do so much and do so many things,'' Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs said. ''They can pass out of it. They hand the ball off. There are so many things they can do with it. They can even bring in the trick plays. You have to stay fundamentally sound to defend so many things and play.'' If the pistol gets the respect of the defense, it's also now getting some respect from the 49ers' Gore. His role seemed reduced after Kaepernick took over for an injured Alex Smith at midseason, but Gore ran for 119 yards against the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs and then scored a pair of touchdowns, including the winner, in the NFC championship game against the Falcons. ''I am good with it. I just have to learn to be patient and know when I am getting the ball,'' Gore said. ''That's the only concern about the pistol. I have always been a patient back. If you watch me run the ball before this, the pistol, it's just knowing you are going to get the ball, that's it.'' MCT graphic Harbaughs could envision working together MCT graphic NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Working separately, John and Jim Harbaugh each guided their team to the Super Bowl. They will be on opposite sidelines Sunday, John as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens and Jim with the San Francisco 49ers. Imagine how effective they could be if working together. At their joint news conference Friday, someone asked the brothers if they would consider teaming up if either should be forced out of his current post. "No question about it," John said. "We've had that conversation in the past. It just never really worked out timingwise. I'd love to work for Jim. It would be the greatest thing in the world." Jim, coach of the San Francisco 49ers, said, "Definitely, I would work for him." Super Bowl tradition dictates that the coaches meet with the media separately two days before the Super Bowl. That custom was altered Friday because, after all, two brothers have never before coached against each other in the Super Bowl. Wearing a dark suit, white shirt, striped tie and laced business shoes, John settled into a director's chair behind a Ravens helmet. Jim, wearing a 49ers hat, a sweat shirt, khaki pants and running shoes, sat in an identical chair behind a San Francisco helmet. Calling it "an exciting moment," John ticked off the names of family members in attendance, including his parents. They posed for pictures with grandfather Joe Cipiti on the stage afterward, too. Jack Harbaugh, their father, was a successful college coach. His sons followed in his footsteps, but on different paths. There was one time, however, when the routes nearly merged. "We almost made it happen at Stanford at one time," John said. "It would be an honor to have him on the staff. He's a great coach. You always try to get great coaches, and there are none better than Jim Harbaugh, and I mean that seriously. There's no better coach in the National Football League than this guy right here." To which Jim added, "Well, Jack Harbaugh." The family coaching tree could run even deeper one day. Jim's son, Jay, works for John as a coaching intern with the Ravens. "He's far better than we've anticipated, and I knew he would be great at what he does," John said. The brothers obviously had a lot of fun with the situation, joking with each other and sometimes acting like a comedy team. Someone asked them to list their commonalities and philosophical differences. "I would be hard-pressed to spell philosophical right now," Jim said. "I know he can't spell commonalities," John said, not missing a beat. Although Jack Harbaugh has received much of the credit for molding the boys into coaches, the brothers revealed that their mother, Jackie, also had a great deal of influence on their growth into men. "There is no one in the family who has more competitive fire than my mother. She competes like a maniac. She has just always believed in us, and I think that is the most important thing to me. She believed in me, John, and Joanie, and took us to games and played catch with us, shot baskets with us, and just believed in us."