Ravens Q&A with defensive line coach Clarence Brooks

Each week, we bring you a Q&A with a Ravens player, coach or team executive to help you learn a little more about the team. Today's guest is defensive line coach Clarence Brooks.

What is the measure of success for the defensive line?

I think as a position coach for the defensive line, [it is] to have guys that come to work every day and put it all on the line because there is a lot that goes on defensively and a lot of it starts up front. To be a solid, fundamentally sound unit that can play well against the run is always key. To be the best pass rushers we can be goes along with that. But the work ethic that it takes to go do that has been kind of key for us. Our guys work well, they take instruction, they want to be good, and that's been a blessing for a coach.

This season, the line has accounted for 15½ of the defense's 45 sacks, four of 19 forced fumbles and five of 11 fumble recoveries. How rewarding is that for you?

It's rewarding in the sense that our guys have been able to perform. They've been making plays, and when you have a chance to make a play, make a play. If you can knock a ball out, knock a ball out. If you can bat a ball down, bat a ball down. If you can recover a fumble, recover it. If you can sack a guy, sack him. I think our guys know that every play they have a chance to make is important. It is gratifying to see them be as productive as they have been, but they wouldn't be if they didn't believe in what we were doing and work hard for it.

Were you at all concerned that defensive tackle Haloti Ngata's production might slip after he inked the five-year, $61 million extension back in September?

No one has ever really asked me that, but no. This team is not built like that. This defensive room is not built like that. We've got two of the best players to ever play at their position in the game in [free safety] Ed [Reed] and [inside linebacker] Ray [Lewis], and they strive to be great every single day. Sizzle [outside linebacker Terrell Suggs], Double-J [outside linebacker Jarret Johnson], you can do down the list. All of the guys strive for something so that when the young guys come in — the [Terrence] Codys, the Arthur Joneses, the Pernell McPhees — they say, "Oh boy, I've got to get going." That's the way this room is built, and that's the way this team is built. This team is like that. Sitting back and resting on your laurels is not something that our guys do. They want to be great, and Haloti wants to be the best in the game, and he's striving to do that.

Prior to this season, defensive end Cory Redding had recorded more than three sacks in a single season just once (eight in 2006). Since he has 4½ thus far, what have you been doing with him?

It's Cory, it's Haloti, it's [defensive end] Pernell McPhee, it's [nose tackle Terrence] Cody, it's [defensive tackle] Arthur [Jones], it's [nose tackle] B-Mac [Brandon McKinney]. All the guys have worked together. You know the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child"? Well, it takes a lot of people to get a sack. If you talk to Sizzle, he will tell you that. His best friends are the corners. The more productive rusher Sizzle is, the better Cory Redding is going to be. A young man like Pernell McPhee comes in, and we really weren't sure what he was going to do. We knew that we didn't have him in the offseason, so we weren't sure what he was like. And he's come in and fit in pretty well. It's a pride thing. We didn't rush the quarterback as well as we wanted to a year ago, and we talked a lot about that as coaches and as we got the guys back here, we talked a lot about that in the preseason. That was a primary focus, and I've got to give a real big shout to Ted Monachino, who coaches the outside rushers and he does a tremendous job with it. There's been a total buy-in by the guys, and they understand that we're on our way to something good here. Someone like Cory who has been in the league for nine years already, it's great to see him have the fun he's been having.

Have you been surprised at Pernell McPhee's production (six sacks, 20 tackles, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery) in his rookie season?