The Pittsburgh Steelers as a team had a tough day at the office Sunday in an embarrassing 30-6 defeat at the hands of the Houston Texans, but several players did stick out in a positive light. As mentioned in previous film rooms, rookie TE Darnell Washington and RB Najee Harris both played well in their respective performances given the circumstances, being bright spots on a rather downtrodden day.
Another bright spot on the team was rookie DL Keeanu Benton who played 29 defensive snaps (41%) and was in on four total tackles (two solo) as well as had a forced fumble in the contest. When looking back through the tape, you see Benton’s impact continue after a big game against the Las Vegas Raiders, doing his best to clog up the middle as a run defender while generating a pass rush on QB C.J. Stroud.
The Film
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Benton on Sunday as Houston did dominate Pittsburgh upfront for long spurts of the game. Here on this rep against former Steelers OL Kendrick Green, we see Benton get pushed off his spot as Green drives him to the left of your screen away from the ball, creating a big running lane that RB Dameon Pierce hits for a nice pickup on the play.
However, Benton was the one doing most of the bullying on Sunday as he routinely got penetration into the backfield or held his own at the point of attack taking on blocks. We see the former here as Benton lines up in the A-gap angled to the center and proceeds to drive C Jarrett Patterson into the backfield, getting in on the tackle on RB Devin Singletary for the run stuff.
Here’s another instance of Benton getting penetration into the backfield against Houston, working through the reach block attempt of RG Shaq Mason as he gets an arm on the runner, slowing him down as the rest of the defense rallies to take him down for no gain.
Benton played well as a run plugger in the middle of Pittsburgh’s defense, holding his own at the line of scrimmage on most of his reps and commanding double teams on occasion to free up linebackers behind him to run to the football. Watch this rep against the center and right guard where Benton takes on the double team, working across the face of the right guard as the center climbs to the backer and crosses the face of the blocker to get in on the tackle, holding the runner to a minimal gain.
Here’s a similar play where Benton lines up head-up on the center and takes on the double team right at the snap, managing to fight pressure and hold his ground as he long-arms the center, ripping across his face as the runner approaches the line of scrimmage to get in on the pile as the rest of the defense rallies to stop the run.
Here’s another rep where Benton fights pressure on a double team block by Green and LT Austin Deculus, initially giving ground on the snap, but Benton manages to dig his heels into the ground and shove off Deculus with his right arm as he counters back to the outside, wrapping up Pierce with LB Elandon Roberts to stop his forward process after a gain of about three yards.
Benton didn’t do much in the pass rush department against the Texans as was the case for Pittsburgh’s entire defense, but he did continue to flash the knack of being disruptive in his pursuit of the quarterback. Watch this rep where Benton executes a stunt with OLB Alex Highsmith, crashing to the outside into OT Austin Deculus. Benton levels Deculus to the ground with a powerful punch, getting into the pocket as Stroud throws the ball to TE Dalton Shultz for the completion.
Keeanu Benton also came out of the game with one of Pittsburgh’s very few splash plays on defense. Watch as he engages Green on the snap of the ball but works across Green’s face to get in on the tackle attempt, ripping at the ball which he does knock out of the runner’s hands. Houston ends up recovering the ball, as Benton is obviously frustrated after the play as Pittsburgh had the chance of getting a turnover and the ball back to the offense.
Conclusion
Sunday was a strong showing from Keeanu Benton against Houston as Pittsburgh’s run defense seemed to hold its own with him in the lineup but wasn’t as stout with him out of it. Benton played heavy snaps in the first half against the Texans but didn’t get back into the game until 11:06 left in the fourth quarter where Houston went on a ten-play drive, having multiple successful runs with Benton off the field.
This isn’t to say that Benton must always be on the field, as that is unrealistic for a 315lb rookie defensive lineman. Rather, much like we have said with CB Joey Porter Jr., it’s time that Pittsburgh takes the training wheels off Benton and increases his usage and snap count in the coming weeks, having played only 36% of the defensive snaps through the first four weeks of the season.
Benton has proven to be one of, if not the best run-stopping defensive linemen Pittsburgh has at the moment with DL Cameron Heyward on the mend. The Texans did run for 139 yards, but it took them 38 carries to do it (3.7 YPC) which can be a feather in Benton’s cap as he did a good job of clogging running lanes up the middle, forcing many Texans’ inside runs to go for little to no gain. We’ll see if Pittsburgh watches back through the tape and comes to a similar conclusion, but seeing as this team needs to make some notable changes, increasing Benton’s role should be one of them.
