It was fitting that during the game in which they became the fourth duo of Pittsburgh Steelers running backs to eclipse 1,000 yards from scrimmage in a season that Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren combined for their overall most productive collective game together.
Never in 31 games prior to last week’s win at the Seattle Seahawks had Harris and Warren combined for three touchdowns in one game for the Steelers. Only once before had the running back duo combined for more than the 220 yards from scrimmage they did at Luman Field.
As luck would have it, the only game in the careers of Harris and Warren together that they combined for more yards from scrimmage (221) happened to come during a late-season January game at the Baltimore Ravens.
Guess what’s next on the schedule for the Steelers? A late-season January game at the Ravens. The Steelers play there at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
“We all know that they know we are gonna run it,” Harris said earlier this week. “That’s our identity. We all expect that. We all know coming into the week that they might be heavy (with extra defenders deployed) in the box. Especially coming off this last performance, (the Ravens are going to be thinking), ‘They are gonna be heavy run again,’ and we have to capitalize off all that.”
The Steelers’ overall offense has found its footing since Mason Rudolph took over at quarterback two weeks ago. And while an effective running game has certainly been a major part of that, in reality that has been a strength since roughly the midway point of the season. Since Week 10, the Steelers are averaging 144.1 rushing yards per game and 4.6 per carry.
For perspective, over the course of the full season those numbers would rank third and sixth in the 32-team NFL, respectively.
“I think it’s just the mindset and how we carry ourselves, really,” Harris said.
The renaissance of the Steelers’ running game is striking when it’s considered that over the first seven games of the season they were averaging 3.4 yards per carry and 79.7 per game — figures that would rank dead last in the league over the course of the full season.
“We are doing our thing, we are trusting each other and playing ball,” Warren said.
The running game is doing so by way of what is one of the more effective — and balanced — running back duos in the league. Against Seattle, Warren played 39 of the Steelers’ 72 offensive snaps (54%) and Harris 38 snaps (52%), meaning they were on the field together for at least five snaps.
Harris had 27 touches (all rushes), gaining 122 yards with two touchdowns. Warren had 17 touches (13 carries for 75 yards, four catches for 23 yards), amassing 98 yards from scrimmage and an 18-yard touchdown run.
The week before against the Cincinnati Bengals in Rudolph’s first start, Warren also slightly out-snapped Harris (34-26) with Harris getting 19 touches (78 yards, touchdown) and Warren 13 touches (54 yards).
Warren (1,104 scrimmage yards this season) and Harris (1,072) joined Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier (1976), Walter Abercrombie and Frank Pollard (1985) and Abercrombie and Earnest Jackson (1986) as the only pairs of Steelers running backs to each surpass 1,000 scrimmage yards in a season.
Harris and Warren aren’t necessarily the traditional, clichéd “thunder and lightning” RB pairing. Warren is listed at 5-foot-8, 215 pounds, and Harris stands 6-1, 242. But arguably the biggest difference between the two isn’t anything physical but in draft pedigree — Harris was a 2021 first-round pick and Warren signed as an undrafted free agent a year later.
No matter, as Harris has come to embrace having a running mate, and Warren has kept to his humble roots.
“Those two guys are selfless, and they just want to win,” said interim offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner, who also serves as the Steelers’ running backs coach. “They come into work every day, and they play so well off each other because I think they’re a lot different. Najee is a big body, big bruiser kind. And Jaylen gets in there, he’s kind of the same type of guy, but his stature allows him to hide behind things sometimes, and it plays to his advantage.
“They play well off of each other because they’re both good football players, and we try to keep on playing into their skill set.”
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