It’s no secret that the Pittsburgh Steelers run game has struggled this season. They’ve struggled to find any sort of consistency, but RB Jaylen Warren provided a fourth-quarter spark in the team’s 17-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens in Week Five. Former NFL RB and current NFL analyst Maurice Jones-Drew thinks that Pittsburgh would benefit from a heavier dose of Warren to improve their struggling run game.
“I’m a huge Najee fan, but based on what I’ve seen this season, he’s not doing enough. With Harris yet to log more than 71 rush yards in a game this season, Warren is the more explosive option right now. He’s hitting the holes, accelerating through contact and bringing juice to an offense desperately trying to get into a rhythm. We know Harris is capable of being the guy in the backfield, but he’s not quite clicking with the offensive line right now and it’s showing in his production,” Jones-Drew wrote in an article for NFL.com.
He thinks the backfield should see an even split with Harris not gelling with the offensive line.
“Warren has seen a slight uptick in carries in recent weeks — he still doesn’t have more than nine in a game this season — and should continue to see more opportunities. Coming out of the bye week, offensive coordinator Matt Canada would be wise to evenly split carries between Harris and Warren early in games before riding the hot hand in an effort to help jump-start this struggling offense.”
Warren was the better back last week, as he had 9 carries for 49 yards against the Ravens in addition to three receptions for 39 yards. The spark he provided was key to helping the Steelers pull off the win and head into their bye week at 3-2, but Harris has had his moments, too.
He ran for 65 yards against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week Three, which is also the only win where Pittsburgh has had over 100 yards on the ground. He followed that up with a 14-carry, 71-yard performance in Week Four against the Houston Texans where he also had a 32-yard reception. A more even split might work out, but Harris is the guy that the Steelers want to be able to rely on.
It’s never a bad thing having two talented running backs, but the lack of success on the ground for Pittsburgh this season has been an issue. Something has to change, and maybe giving Warren more of an extended look will help. Harris and Warren complement each other nicely, and maybe giving Harris a smaller workload will help him become more efficient.
I still think Harris is the better back, but there’s no doubt that Warren is also talented and he does deserve more opportunities after his performance Sunday. If that happens, it’s not a knock on Harris and more telling of how good Warren has been and could be going forward.
The Steelers are going to commit to the run, and they have to in order to help take the burden off Kenny Pickett and the passing game. The Steelers can’t afford to be one-dimensional, especially when the passing offense has looked shaky pretty much all season. They’re built to win on the ground, but they just haven’t had the success they should. Coming out of the bye, it’s something they’re going to keep working at. They had a lot of success with whatever tweaks they made post-bye week last season when it came to the ground game, and the hope is that the same thing can occur this year. Whether or not it’s getting Warren more touches, the Steelers need to find some sort of solution to improve the run game. If they do, the offense is going to be a heck of a lot better than it has been.
