After a slow start against the Baltimore Ravens Saturday, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense finally got into gear, and it wasn’t all that surprising that it happened with running back Jaylen Warren on the field.
Against the Ravens, Warren far out-played and out-snapped running back Najee Harris, raising questions about the playing-time split at RB and if it signaled a shift for the Black and Gold moving forward.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said that the split between Warren and Harris had more to do with game flow than anything else as the Steelers entered the game against the Ravens wanting to use all three backs evenly, especially with a game four days later against the Kansas City Chiefs.
But falling behind in the game and needing to play catch-up dictated Warren being on the field, Tomlin told reporters Sunday.
“It probably was just the flow of the game. We had every intention of being inclusive and utilizing all our backs,” Tomlin said of the split in snap counts between Warren and Harris, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube channel. “Not only yesterday, but because we are on a short turnaround and we got another game coming and so, we wanted to use all three guys.
“And really, Jaylen got a heck of a lot more than the others just based on kind of some game circumstances when he was in, in the general flow of the game.”
Against the Ravens, Warren played 40 snaps and out-touched Harris 17 to 9. Harris played just 17 snaps with nine carries. So, Warren nearly more than doubled him up on snaps in the loss to the Ravens, and that was a continuation of what occurred against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 15.
In that loss to the Eagles, Warren played 23 snaps, while Harris played just 14 snaps. Warren has been the more effective back when on the field, too, with 5.4 yards per touch on Saturday to compared to 4.7 for Harris.
Warren brings more juice to the table than Harris and has been a better fit in recent weeks with how defenses are defending Pittsburgh. We’ll see if that disparity in snaps continues on Christmas Day against the Chiefs. If it does, that might be a real sign that the Steelers are shifting more toward Warren as their lead back.
