The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t always found a way to consistently get nose tackle Javon Hargrave on the field. Even though he is a good athlete for the position, defense is played so much with five or more defensive backs on the field that it’s hard to play the nose tackle.
But their defensive game plan against the Carolina Panthers was slightly different from what it normally has, putting a greater emphasis on keeping the ‘base’ 3-4 defense on the field, even against 11 personnel packages, in order to contain the run.
By and large, they did that, and Hargrave was key in that, especially in the first quarter (since the Panthers spent most of the rest of the game throwing it).