Eagles' Javon Hargrave looking for chance to finally sack Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger

His Philadelphia Eagles teammates were looking for inside information from Javon Hargrave on how to sack Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Who better to go to for advice? After all, during his four seasons with the Steelers, Hargrave regularly lined up across from Roethlisberger in practice.

Hargrave didn’t mean to disappoint, but he had nothing to offer.

“You can’t touch Ben,” Hargrave said, flashing a smile. “We never got a chance to touch Ben. Ben is forbidden to be touched over there in Pittsburgh. … You get close to ‘7,’ you get in trouble.

“I look forward trying to be able to bring him down, to finally be able to touch him and bring him down.”

Although Roethlisberger is off limits to pass rushers in practice, Hargrave will have no such restrictions in place when he faces his former team Sunday at Heinz Field.

Five games into his first season with the Eagles, the 27-year-old defensive tackle will have a homecoming at Heinz Field, his NFL home with the Steelers from 2016-19.

The challenge, of course, will be trying to interrupt the rhythm Roethlisberger has established while leading the Steelers to a 3-0 record in his return from right elbow surgery.

Roethlisberger has completed 67% of his passes while throwing seven touchdowns and one interception in amassing a 105.7 passer rating that is 10th among NFL passers.

“With Ben being elite and being in the league for a long time, we know we have to disrupt and try to cause problems,” Hargrave said Thursday in an interview with Eagles reporters. “If we give him a lot of time, he can make a lot of plays happen and extend plays. We have to try to bring him down.”

The Eagles have brought down the quarterback more frequently than any NFL team through the quarter pole of the season. With 17 sacks, the Eagles are two ahead of the Steelers, whose 15 sacks have come in just three games. Thirteen of those sacks for the Eagles were compiled in the past two games.

Since signing a three-year, $39 million contract with the Eagles in free agency, Hargrave has been slow to announce his presence along the Eagles defensive line. A nose tackle in the Steelers’ 3-4 defense, Hargrave is playing right defensive tackle in the Eagles’ 4-3 front.

Hargrave missed all of training camp and the season opener with pectoral and hamstring injuries. Eagles coach Doug Pederson slowly worked Hargrave into the defensive tackle rotation with five-time Pro Bowler Fletcher Cox and veteran Malik Jackson.

Hargrave’s playing time has increased from 25 snaps in the second game of the season to 42 in the Eagles’ 25-20 win in San Francisco that was their first of the year following an 0-2-1 start.

“He’s come back, and he’s come back strong,” Pederson said. “He’s looking like the Javon of old. You just put on tape from the last couple of years, you see an explosive guy. Obviously, it’s a different scheme, but you still see that explosiveness coming off the ball, pushing the pocket, and he does a nice job in the run game.”

With the Steelers, Hargrave often would leave the field in subpackages, which the defense used about 75% of all snaps. But he also would spell Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt on the end, and his playing time increased last year when Tuitt suffered a torn pectoral muscle midway through the season.

Hargrave played a career-high 63% of the snaps, and he contributed four sacks and a career-high 60 tackles to a defense that led the NFL in bringing down the quarterback.

That made him attractive to the Eagles even if they don’t deploy a nose tackle in their scheme.

“He fits well with what we do based on his skill set,” Pederson said. “He’s been a good leader of that defensive line. Because he’s missed time early in our season, he’s just now kind of feeling good and getting himself into game shape.”

When Hargrave left the Steelers, he didn’t immediately realize he was going from one elite pass-rushing defensive front to another. The Eagles already have had 13 players contribute at least one-half sack this season.

Defensive ends Brandon Graham and Josh Sweat lead with three apiece.

“I’ve never seen anything like this to have so much talent on one defensive line where we can keep rotating and not dropping a beat,” Hargrave said. “Having so many guys that contribute, I’m happy to be a part of it.”

For this weekend, he wouldn’t mind getting a piece of Roethlisberger, who has been sacked five times this year.

“Anybody on a new team going to play his old team, I’m sure he’s going to have an extra chip on his shoulder,” Cox said. “But that’s ‘J.’ he comes with an extra chip on his shoulder every day in practice. He’s always learning, being coachable. I’m pretty sure he’s excited to get on the plane and go down there and play against his former team.”