Pittsburgh Steelers Steelers Commentary
Becker: Steelers Find Sweet Spot with Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren
The Steelers have struggled to run the football consistently as of late, but they seemed to find a rhythm in their loss to the Ravens.
PITTSBURGH – There weren’t a lot of positives to take away from the Pittsburgh Steelers 34-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. However, one was their usage of running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.
The Steelers have struggled to find consistency running the ball as of late. Over the past two weeks, Harris and Warren have rushed for a combined 126 yards on 35 carries (3.6 yards per carry).
On Saturday, both backs finally seemed to find a rhythm while each rushed for 4+ yards per carry. That is something they have done just twice this season (Weeks 2 and 8), but Harris dominated the touches in both games.
That has really been the case for most of the season. Harris had 259 touches (229 carries, 30 catches) through the first 14 weeks compared to Warren’s 119 (91 carries, 28 catches). That changed on Saturday, though, as Warren led the team with 12 carries with Harris being a close second (nine).
Harris and Warren both rushed for less than 50 yards against the Ravens, but that wasn’t due to a lack of quality runs. The issue was that the Steelers found themselves behind in the second half and turned away from their run game, which had been a bright spot for the offense up until that point.
Warren seemed a bit surprised by that decision, given the Steelers’ willingness to stick with the run even when costly turnovers have occurred in the past.
“We’re usually a team that counterpunches,” Warren said. “You know, we don’t look at that like any momentum loss. It just didn’t go our way.”
That doesn’t mean that will be the case moving forward, though. In fact, the Steelers should find a way to replicate their usage of Harris and Warren the rest of the season.
The Ravens entered the game with the No. 1 run defense in the league. If the Steelers had success against them, they should be able to have success against anyone, starting with the Chiefs on Wednesday.
Like Baltimore, Kansas City has one of the better run defenses in the league. The best way to beat quarterback Patrick Mahomes is by keeping him off the field. Having a successful run game will help do just that.
Warren is confident they can re-capture their momentum against the Chiefs in a few short days.
“I’m just focused on Kansas City,” Warren said. “Just play how we know how to play.”
Only time will tell if the Steelers will lean on their backs in a similar fashion. Head coach Mike Tomlin didn’t give an answer to that question on Saturday.
“I don’t micromanage those things,” Tomlin said. “Our running backs coach does a real good job with that.”
However, the Steelers would be smart to do whatever it takes to get Harris and Warren back in their sweet spot with the season narrowing and the Ravens getting closer to stealing the AFC North lead from them.
Alan Saunders provided reporting from Baltimore.
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