Heading into last Thursday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ run defense looked to be in a good spot. The Bengals had the worst rushing offense in the league. The Steelers’ run defense held the previous two opponents to under 100 yards rushing.
But things went sideways quickly, and it led to the Steelers’ defense as a whole struggling. They allowed the Bengals to rush for a season-high 142 yards in the 33-31 loss. Part of that was two big runs by Bengals RB Chase Brown. And former Steelers DL Chris Hoke saw issues with DL Keeanu Benton, especially on those plays.
“Two of those were Keeanu Benton,” Hoke said Thursday on The Pomp And Joe Show. “He’s just got to be in his gap. I praised him a couple times over the last couple weeks about how he played. I think he played very, very well against the Vikings in Dublin, I think he had a sack and a half, he had a couple tackles for a loss. Played extremely well in terms of technique and leverage. And then this game, whether you’re trying to make a play, whatever you’re trying to do, it’s not consistent.”
When the Steelers had trouble defending the run against the New York Jets in Week 1, Benton struggled. He had played better recently, but the struggles resurfaced in Cincinnati. Pro Football Focus gave him a 39.4 run-defense grade against the Bengals, the worst on the team. The Steelers can’t afford for Benton to be a continual liability on the defensive line.
The frustrating part is that he was only two games removed from a great outing against the Minnesota Vikings. Hoke called it Benton’s “best game of the year” after he reviewed the film. In that game, he played well against both the run and the pass. He stopped trying to be a free-lancing nose tackle and focused on doing his job to the best of his ability.
Unfortunately, Keeanu Benton returned to those ways against the Bengals. He didn’t focus on his role, he focused on trying to make plays. And that led to breakdowns along the defensive line. So, what does that mean in Hoke’s eyes for Benton?
“In terms of technique, in terms of knowing what to do, I know he knows what to do because I’ve seen him do it,” Hoke said. “It’s doing it consistently. And that’s what professionals do, they do it week in and week out.”
And that’s the problem, not only with Benton but a number of young players on the team, Hoke said. They’ve got talent. They just aren’t stacking good performances on top of each other. That’s not to say players won’t have bad days. Everyone does, even the greatest players of all time.
But with them, those bad games are few and far between. Those bad performances don’t stack. They play good football consistently. Unfortunately, Keeanu Benton isn’t playing consistently good football. He’s capable of playing good football, though. Now he needs to figure out how to play that way multiple games in a row and make that the standard of play.
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