{"id":220255,"date":"2025-09-12T07:09:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T07:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/220255\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T07:09:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T07:09:12","slug":"dc-teryl-austin-explains-why-steelers-dont-use-old-school-nt-is-that-worth-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/220255\/","title":{"rendered":"DC Teryl Austin Explains Why Steelers Don’t Use Old-School NT: ‘Is That Worth It?’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NFL game is changing. And DC Teryl Austin says it changes not just schematics, but the personnel the Pittsburgh Steelers use, too. Allowing nearly 500 rushing yards over the past two games, 2024\u2019s Wild Card loss and 2025\u2019s regular season opener, there are calls for Pittsburgh to have an old-school nose tackle. Austin says that might not be the wisest thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could, but then it\u2019s the same thing in terms of amount of snaps,\u201d Austin told reporters Thursday via a team-provided transcript. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to play 80-percent of your game in nickel because they\u2019re in 11 personnel and then you have a guy that could be your starting nose tackle that\u2019s going to play maybe 10 snaps a game, is that worth it?\u201d<\/p>\n

As we charted last year,<\/a> Pittsburgh used the least amount of base 3-4 defense it has in years. They deployed a base formation just 26.7-percent of the time, the lowest since we began tracking this data back in 2015. In a world where pass rush is important and requires athletes to chase the screen game and mobile quarterbacks, the Steelers and the rest of the NFL have gotten smaller and faster defensively. But as football cyclically moves back to a ground-and-pound attack, defenses are scrambling to catch up.<\/p>\n

For a gameday roster that doesn\u2019t even dress all 53 players, maximizing snaps is key in Austin\u2019s mind. It squeezes out the run-stuffing nose tackle of yesteryear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may need it at another position. I think, sometimes that goes into the big picture that sometimes guys don\u2019t see, that we may want to have that guy up but we can\u2019t have it up because we may have added injury. We need another special teams guy, we need another defensive back, we need another receiver, whoever it may be. Because of the lack of snaps, somebody else has to absorb it, so you can\u2019t keep that specialized guy up sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are trade-offs and decisions Pittsburgh makes on a weekly basis. In my offseason conversation, former Steelers\u2019 NT Breiden Fehoko shared Mike Tomlin told him Fehoko couldn\u2019t get elevated because of the numbers game. Fehoko potentially playing just a handful of snaps in a game couldn\u2019t justify taking someone else\u2019s spot, who is likely to play more. At the same time, stopping the run is foundational and fundamental to Pittsburgh playing winning defense, something they haven\u2019t done enough in the last several games.<\/p>\n

If Pittsburgh wants to go old-school up front, another player doesn\u2019t need to dress. Rookie Yahya Black or veteran Daniel Ekuale better fit the mold of a run-plugger. Black is 336 pounds<\/a> with tons of strength and plus athleticism for his size. He presents a unique combination, with loose shades of Kenny Clark, Christian Wilkins, or Dexter Lawrence. Ekuale is a true one-note run stuffer and the current backup nose tackle. Against New York, he logged just three of 20 snaps in Pittsburgh\u2019s base 3-4. The Steelers have been open to playing Black in the middle, but so far, his work has only come at defensive end.<\/p>\n

No matter the personnel, scheme, or reason, the Steelers must get back to stopping the run. Otherwise, a rough start will turn into a long season with an offense that won\u2019t bail them out every time. Austin is asking if a nose tackle is worth it. Steelers\u2019 Nation would currently offer a resounding \u2018yes.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL game is changing. And DC Teryl Austin says it changes not just schematics, but the personnel…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":220256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[120018,70983,1232,1545,62,120019,67,132,68,62339],"class_list":{"0":"post-220255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-daniel-ekuale","9":"tag-keeanu-benton","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-teryl-austin","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-yahya-black"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115190075675536342","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}