Slant to Win

To say that the war is won by winning the battle in the trenches is not a cliche. As the defensive line coach at Boston College, my entire philosophy about defensive line play is based on this idea. However, winning the battle in the trenches does not necessarily mean that defensive linemen have to make plays. To win, we must have an impact on the run and pass game. In the run game, the battle up front is won when we keep the offensive line off of our linebackers and safeties, and constrict running lanes, thus forcing the ball carrier to redirect. When the pass is on, that is our time to shine. It is essential that we affect the passing game by taking the QB out of his groove. Any edge we can find in affecting the pass and run game will help us win the battle up front. I believe that there are three ways this can be done: 1) we can flush the QB out of the pocket and force him to throw