The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2021 season is mostly remembered for QB Ben Roethlisberger’s final hurrah, but another big aspect of it was the porous run defense. The Steelers were uncharacteristically run over all season, and something needed to change. Enter DT Larry Ogunjobi. After failing a medical with the Chicago Bears due to an injury, the Steelers were able to scoop him up in June 2022 on a one-year deal.
While Ogunjobi didn’t have great sack numbers last year as he had an offseason full of recovery and battled injury throughout the season, his presence led to a notable impact on the run defense. With Ogunjobi in the fold, Pittsburgh’s run defense went from dead last in 2021 to ninth best last year. The Steelers re-signed Ogunjobi this offseason and today Steelers DL Cameron Heyward said he doesn’t think Ogunjobi gets the credit he deserves.
“I think a guy like Larry doesn’t get enough respect,” Heyward said in an interview with 102.5 WDVE. It’s easy to look around the league and because you’re in a big market, they say this, they say that, but I’ve seen Larry produce, I’ve seen Larry do things that not a lot of other other guys are doing. Stopping the run and playing the pass. I think stopping the run has become archaic in our game where they think it’s just a given when not a lot of guys do it.”
Ogunjobi broke out in 2021 with the Cincinnati Bengals, finishing the season with seven sacks, 49 tackles, and 12 tackles for a loss. While defensive linemen are mostly recognized for the sack production there is a lot more that goes into the game for someone to be a great defensive lineman. As shown in 2021, Ogunjobi is able to produce impressive sack numbers as a defensive tackle, but even when he is not getting sacks, he is still helping the team out.
Last season, Ogunjobi finished with just 1.5 sacks, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a Steelers fan who thinks he had a bad year. Struggling with injuries, he was still able to help out the run game making seven tackles for a loss and 48 tackles. Other than Ogunjobi, the Steelers’ defensive line didn’t change much from 2021, and the linebackers weren’t world beaters as shown by the fact that only Mark Robinson was retained from that group. This proves how much of an impact Ogunjobi can have on a game even if he isn’t racking up sacks.
As Heyward said, stopping the run isn’t seen as a glamorous aspect of football. It isn’t going to get you on highlight reels or talked about on ESPN’s First Take, but it is vital in helping a team win. Ogunjobi does that well, even when hurt. How with a fully healthy offseason we could see his sack numbers improve as well.
Talk in the offseason doesn’t mean much though as Heyward acknowledged.
“We can only make believers during the regular season,” he said, “and I’m looking forward to changing that.”
Heyward has on multiple occasions said he feels the media disrespects him, and he also believes Ogunjobi is disrespected. Unfortunately, as much as we know the impact both have on this Steelers team, Heyward is right. Until the regular season starts, these words will fall on deaf ears to the public.
Both Heyward and Ogunjobi can stop the run and rush the passer, but it may take a deep playoff run for the national media to realizes how good the Steelers’ two defensive linemen are.
