Keeanu Benton struggled in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 1 win over the New York Jets, with New York running for 182 yards and Benton struggling to maintain his gap. Despite his struggles holding down nose tackle, Mike Tomlin said the Steelers have no plans to move Benton and they expect him to improve week to week.
“No, there’s no real strong consideration of moving people around at this juncture. Keeanu is expected to get better from Game 1 to Game 2 like everyone else. I think it’s a reasonable expectation, at least it is for me,” Tomlin said in his Tuesday press conference via the team’s YouTube channel. “I think once you’ve been in the stadium and you’ve played 60 minutes of football, you know something about yourselves that you didn’t prior to going into it, and I think that knowledge, that experience individually and collectively, is a catalyst for improvement between Game 1 and Game 2.”
The Steelers have options if they do want to kick Benton outside, as Yahya Black is a capable nose tackle, although the Steelers have primarily used him as a defensive end. Benton is athletic and has shown flashes, but his overall output in Year 3 has been a little bit underwhelming. His play strength could stand to improve to better anchor against the run.
Former Steelers defensive lineman Chris Hoke pointed to technique as the source of Benton’s issues against the Jets, as he cited examples of the former second-round pick coming out of his gap to try to create plays that opened up holes. That was evident on the very first snap on Sunday. Benton got turned sideways and opened up a huge hole for RB Breece Hall, who broke off an 18-yard gain.
Benton’s issues should be correctable, and seeing what he did wrong on tape should lead to improvement week to week. The Seahawks, like the Jets, are a team that likes to run the ball with their running back duo of Kenneth Walker II and Zach Charbonnet. The unit struggled in Week 1, though, running for just 84 yards and managing just 3.2 yards per carry. It’s an opportunity for Benton and the Steelers’ defense as a whole to get right after struggling immensely against the run in Week 1.
While the Steelers may not be considering a change now, if Benton continues to struggle against the run, the Steelers may have no choice but to make a change. Their run defense struggled toward the end of last season and improving against the run was a focus heading into this year. Week 1 wasn’t a positive sign for them turning around that aspect of the game, and Benton was a big reason why the Steelers were so poor defending the run.
It would be a little reactionary for the Steelers to make a change after Week 1, but Benton needs to show real improvement this week and going forward to hold down his nose tackle spot.
