d-line question

Coach Nick,

We have done it both ways. That is: 1. Have D-linemen slant wide open into a gap and make the offense try to stop their penetration and 2. Have the D-linemen attack a surface on the O-linemen. I feel that both are sound and it is more a matter of their reads and keys and how they are coached.

We gave teams fits a couple of years ago by sitting in a heads-up-stack 44 defense and attacking gaps wide open because of the athleticism of our D-linemen. Most O's chose to narrow their splits and I feel they cut back on their offense which was good for us. The past couple of years we have had bigger and slower boys that we feel were better suited to shading techniques, attacking surfaces, and allowing the LBs to run more. Don't get me wrong, we are not a reading D but these boys weren't going to be able to shoot gaps near as well.

Coach Golla has some good Stimulas Response videos for teaching D-linemen how to slant and attack surfaces. They are on this website.