Early on — and especially throughout the game — Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren was the best player on the field offensively for the Black and Gold.
That was shown by his 74-yard touchdown run and his 21-yard run in the fourth quarter that helped the Steelers tie the game at 10-10 midway through the final quarter of play.
Yet, despite that being quite clear, the Steelers got the ball to Warren just 12 times on the day, nine on the ground and three through the air. Warren had 129 yards and a touchdown on the ground, including his 74-yard touchdown, which was the longest run the Steelers have had in nine years.
And yet, the Steelers gave him the football just five times after his game-changing touchdown run in a 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns that dropped Pittsburgh to 6-4 on the season.
Asked after the game if he thinks the offense should have gotten Warren the football more, especially down the stretch in a low-scoring game with offense hard to come by, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin shut down any second-guessing rather quickly.
“I don’t. When you’re unsuccessful you can look back and make a lot of those type judgements. Man, we just don’t live like that,” Tomlin said to reporters after the 13-10 loss to the Browns, according to video via Steelers.com. “We don’t live in our fears. We don’t second guess, man. We live, and so I stand by whatever decisions or play selections or ball distributions we had today.”
There’s that famous cliche from Tomlin again. “We don’t live in our fears.”
Sure seems like the Steelers lived in those fears on Sunday offensively, as the passing game was a mess and rarely challenged Cleveland’s defense down the field. Plus, when the Steelers needed to get a spark in the final two drives, they played rather conservatively and had Warren off the field on early downs.
That resulted in Pittsburgh wasting a great opportunity on the second-to-last drive, taking over at midfield after a poor punt from Cleveland’s Corey Bojorquez. Pittsburgh ultimately punted after a strong first play to the drive, a 12-yard gain to George Pickens.
Warren touched the football once on the drive, and it was on a screen pass that went for two yards.
The Steelers talk about balance and all that offensively, and yet they didn’t ride the obvious hot hand in Warren, and it cost them. Though Tomlin has made a career out of not second-guessing or living in fears, there should be a lot of second-guessing in the days ahead that Warren was only given the ball five times after his game-changing touchdown run.
That’s inexcusable, especially for an offense that remains a disaster.
