After defeating the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers somehow find themselves at 3-2 and atop the AFC North standings despite the overall ugliness that permeated the first five games of the season. The common thread through the first part of the season has been offensive struggles with plenty of finger-pointing about who is to blame (namely offensive coordinator Matt Canada) but less discussion about tangible ways to improve it (other than firing Canada with no real plan beyond that.)
Legendary Steelers head coach Bill Cowher joined the Dan Patrick Show Monday to discuss Week Five of the NFL’s action as a whole, but it was inevitable that the conversation would turn toward Pittsburgh. While Patrick and Cowher talked about a number of topics surrounding the team, there was some serious talk about the prospects for the rest of the season.
“I think from Pittsburgh’s standpoint, it is a long year,” Cowher said. “It’s a work in progress because clearly, the offense is going to have to be more productive than it is right now. And I think getting back to the running game is a little bit of that answer. And I would not just be with Najee Harris, a Najee Harris/Jaylen Warren combination. Jaylen Warren came in and really gave that team a spark when he came in. He made a couple of big plays on third down and a couple of big runs. He gives them a little bit of that splash, a little bit of that suddenness that you want to see on that offense because you’ll feel like they’re just plodding down.”
You might think that Cowher’s take on getting the running game going is old-fashioned, and the modern NFL is a passing-focused league. The truth be told, it is a passing league. However, when your offense is struggling, getting the ground game going can help the offense get on more solid ground for the passing game to work off of. If Sunday’s game is any indicator of the impact the running game, and specifically a running back, can have on a game, Cowher is on to something.
Cowher specifically mentioned the impact Warren had, and he had his best game of the 2023 season against the Ravens on Sunday. He had nine carries for 40 yards, an average of 4.4 yards per carry, with a long run of 16 yards. He also had three catches for 39 yards, averaging 13 yards per reception with a long reception of 23 yards. He only had three touches in the first half, all in the second quarter. However, he had three big plays in a row on the field goal drive that came immediately after the blocked punt for a safety. He had a 23-yard reception on third-and-8, then followed it up with 10 and 16-yard runs.
As for Harris, he did not have an impactful game against Baltimore, but he was arguably the lone bright spot in Week Four’s 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans. He had 14 carries for 71 yards, an average of 5.1 yards per carry with a long rush of 23 yards. He also had one catch for 32 yards.
Getting both players involved more in the offense, especially earlier in the game, could take some pressure off second-year QB Kenny Pickett and perhaps keep games from getting out of control like against the Texans and in Week One against the San Francisco 49ers. The Steelers need to extend some possessions, especially in the first quarter, to help keep the defense in good positions.
That’s the best long-term situation for Pittsburgh. However, the defense is good enough to set the offense up to win football games late as they did in Week Two against the Cleveland Browns and again on Sunday against Baltimore. It may not have been pretty, but a win is always a win.
“The biggest thing they’re doing is winning,” Cowher said. “They’re winning games ugly, and that’s always going to be the case with a Baltimore-Pittsburgh game.”
As Cowher said earlier, the offense needs to find itself and get going in order for the Steelers to be successful over the rest of the 2023 season. However, in the case of a rivalry game like Sunday, ugliness is always going to rear its head. Thankfully for Pittsburgh fans, the Steelers seem to have figured out how to win ugly games.
Catch the entire interview below.
