Defensive Line Setting the Tempo By Attacking and Reacting by Kevin Cristillo Former Defensive Line and Head Coach • Kentucky Christian University

Defensive Line Setting the Tempo By Attacking and Reacting

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© June, 2011

by Kevin Cristillo
Former Defensive Line and Head Coach • Kentucky Christian University

My philosophy as a D-line coach is to be aggressive and stop the run. As a defensive lineman, your main job is to stop the run. By stopping the run, you are dictating the tempo of how the game is going to be played. Almost every team wants to establish a run game so that they can complement that with their passing game. Stopping a team’s running game puts them in a situation where they have to throw the ball. This makes play calling easier for a defensive coordinator by taking the guessing game out of it.

Every defensive lineman wants to get as many sacks as possible. You can do this by putting the offense in more passing situations. That is done by playing good defense on first and second downs by stopping the run. This will force the offense to pass in order to keep the drives alive, allowing D-linemen more chances at rushing the QB for sacks.

Defensive linemen are the first point of attack for a defense. This is why they set the tempo for how the game is played. In every play, they participate in a mini-battle ...The full article can only be seen by subscribers.
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