DT Hargrave wreaking havoc
but they are powerful and use their lower body to get underneath taller offensive linemen and gain leverage. Former Pitt star Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams is a prime example. So is Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Geno Atkins.
Hargrave is 6 feet 1 and 310 pounds, a little heavier than Donald and Atkins, but he surprises opposing centers and guards with his quickness and overpowers them with his strength. Just ask Swanson. Or even New England Patriots guard Joe Thuney, who got tossed like a rag doll by Hargrave on a sack in the first quarter of the AFC championship.
“I don’t call it undersized,” Hargrave said. “When you’re this low you can get under some of the bigger dudes. That’s kind of our advantage. In the trenches it’s all about your leverage. We naturally have good leverage coming off ball, so most of the time we’re going to win that.”
Hargrave did that twice against the Lions, helping to preserve a 20-15 victory and a three-game winning streak heading into the off week.
After eight games, he already has equaled his sack total (2) from the 2016 regular season and is tied with outside linebacker Bud Dupree with 18 tackles, 10th most on the team.
“He’s extraordinarily quick for his size,” Butler said. “You wouldn’t think it. You’d sit there and say, ‘This guy can’t move like that.’ He does.”
Defensive line coach John Mitchell, who has been around long enough to coach Hampton and former nose tackle Joel Steed, said Hargrave uses his hands better than any young player he’s seen this early in their career.
“Plus he can get off blocks,” said Mitchell, who has been with the Steelers since 1994. “It doesn’t look like he’s running fast because of his body, but he’s running pretty fast. A good football player, if they get blocked, they don’t stay blocked. And he doesn’t get blocked where he stays blocked. He can get off blocks and run to the ball.”
But there is one problem with Hargrave — trying to keep him on the field.
Unless there is an injury to defensive ends Cam Heyward or Stephon Tuitt, he typically comes out of the game when the Steelers use their nickel and dime defensive packages.
When Tuitt missed the past two games with a back injury, Hargrave played 55 percent of the time against the Lions (39 snaps) and Cincinnati Bengals (28 snaps). When the Steelers played the run-oriented Jacksonville Jaguars, Hargrave played 61 percent of the snaps (33) and led the team with 10 tackles.
But against a team such as the Kansas City Chiefs, a game in which Tuitt was healthy, Hargrave was on the field for only 21 snaps, or 39 percent of the time.
Butler said the Steelers would like to use Hargrave more and not always let an opposing offense dictate to them what type of defense they should use.
“We can’t allow them to keep him out of the game,” Butler said. “He has to be able to play. He does a good job when he plays.”
But, as Mitchell noted, “I’d like to get him on the field more. But now I got to take Cam [Heyward] or Tuitt off the field.”
Maybe that’s not a bad thing.