The more things change, the more they stay the same. At least that’s the attitude Jaylen Warren has about moving forward under a new offensive coordinator. The Pittsburgh Steelers let go of offensive coordinator Matt Canada on Tuesday morning and RB coach Eddie Faulkner and QB coach Mike Sullivan are splitting his duties. Faulkner will be leading the meetings and was named the interim offensive coordinator while Sullivan will call the plays on offense in-game.
Jaylen Warren spoke to the Pittsburgh media during his post-practice press availability on Wednesday to discuss what may, or may not change moving forward.
“You can tell they are genuine coaches, and they really want what’s best for us,” Jaylen said about Faulkner and Sullivan. “So I think having coaches like that will make us play hard for them.”
Warren has been playing hard and nothing really changes for him—his RB coach is the new offensive coordinator. It isn’t like there will be a new guy in his meetings. If anything, there is one less.
“We don’t plan on doing anything different. Just staying true to us, keeping things simple.”
Though Warren has led the league in rushing yards over the last three weeks and has been given the Angry Run award and the FedEx Ground award all within the last few days, he remains humble and keeps a team-first attitude. The offense will obviously make some changes. It’s impossible not to when you have a new playcaller or decision-maker. To Warren’s point, the running game is on track, and needs to continue doing what they are doing. Keep it simple.
“I don’t expect nothing. Whatever they feel is best for us to win,” said Warren in response to a question about increasing his number of carries. So while the media insists that Warren should be taking over full-time in the Steelers’ backfield, Warren leans on the success that the run game has enjoyed over the last month and trusts the process.
Warren leads the team in yards from scrimmage this season with 727 yards. He has 493 rushing yards on 80 carries and has scored three touchdowns. He is also second in the league at this point, and he has a very good shot at hitting the 1000 all-purpose yard benchmark and could even rush for 1000 yards if things continue trending the way they have been. Najee Harris has been finding success of his own, with a big step up in explosive play production and both running backs have been forcing missed tackles at an impressive rate this season. For years, the Steelers would feature running backs and run them into the ground. It is a nice change of pace to have a two-headed backfield that is each finding success in their roles.
