One of the many things Pittsburgh Steelers fans expect year in and year out is that the defense will excel in stopping the run. Throughout their history, the Steelers have been built through a dominant front that stuffed the run. This offseason Pittsburgh added Breiden Fehoko to provide competition at nose tackle and help the Steelers’ run defense.
Alex Kozora has reported that Fehoko has been a “Steady Eddie” in training camp and has consistently performed well in the run game, which is his primary objective. Today, Fehoko joined Steelers Live post-practice and discussed how important the run defense is to him.
“I take a lot of pride in the run game,” said Fehoko to Mike Prisuta and Craig Wolfley on Steelers.com. “Me, and Elandon Roberts, and Cole Holcomb, and Kwon Alexander, I talk to those guys every night and I literally tell them every night I go to sleep I think about how we can make the inside of that defense better. I think about making sure no running backs run between the A gaps and run between the tackles. And that’s just my game, that’s my niche, you know, I’ve become fond of it. That’s what I’m good at and hopefully I can bring a little bit to Pittsburgh this season and help us be the best team we can be.”
For Fehoko to make the team he is going to have to excel in the run game as, like he said, that is his game. As a true nose tackle, Fehoko’s job isn’t to rush the passer, it is to clog up the holes that a running back can run through. Spending the first three seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Chargers, Fehoko has tallied 36 tackles and one tackle for a loss in 19 games. In his Steelers’ debut last Friday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he failed to get on the stat sheet in his 15 snaps.
Being a run-stuffing nose tackle, Fehoko’s job isn’t necessarily to get on the stat sheet, but instead to fill lanes and make life easier for the linebackers to clean up. Now, if he can get on the stat sheet that is certainly a plus and will help him possibly make the team. But him not having any stats isn’t going to hurt so long as the Steelers’ coaching staff is happy with how he was filling gaps and the linebackers behind him are making tackles for either a minimal gain or a loss.
Fehoko certainly has the right attitude, with his only goal being to get better and to help the team. That is the attitude a nose tackle has to have because to be honest, their job is very underrated. You know when your favorite team has a good nose tackle because you see how much of an impact they have. But, if you just look at the stat sheets of another team, a nose tackle can look bad because they aren’t recording a bunch of stats.
There are still more preseason games and practices for Fehoko to show why he belongs on the 2023 Steelers. If he keeps performing like our own Alex Kozora has observed, his odds of making the roster as a run-stuffing specialist won’t be too far-fetched.
