PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren were preparing for this week’s matchup with the Green Bay Packers when something occurred to them. Now that the ground game was finally finding its footing, they needed a way to highlight it.
“We were like, ‘We need to come up with a celebration,'” Warren said.
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During Sunday’s 23-19 victory over the Packers, they wasted no time creating a reason to unveil it.
On the first drive of the game, Harris walked 4 yards virtually untouched into the end zone to cap a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, the second consecutive game in which the Steelers turned their opening possession into seven points. On Pittsburgh’s next offensive series, the other part of the Steelers’ emerging two-headed monster did his thing, as Warren raced 16 yards into the end zone for a touchdown of his own.
On the sideline after the second score, Harris and Warren celebrated with an intricate set of high fives, followed by what one can only assume was a guitar-strumming exclamation point.
30 🤝 22@Budlight | #EasyToCelebrate pic.twitter.com/xO0JxSMy8s
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 12, 2023
“It was kind of a 1-2 punch,” quarterback Kenny Pickett said. “You didn’t want to take it out of their hands too much with how successful they were at it. I thought those two were playing unreal today.”
In an ideal world, the Steelers would have ridden that early momentum to an easy victory. But these are the Steelers we’re talking about.
After building a 17-7 lead, Pittsburgh conceded 12 consecutive points and allowed the Packers to take a 19-17 lead with 3:04 remaining in the third quarter. However, Steelers kicker Chris Boswell connected on field goals of 49 and 35 yards over the final 16:05, Pittsburgh’s defense pitched a fourth-quarter shutout and safety Damontae Kazee sealed it with a last-second interception on the goal line. Despite the fact that they’ve been outgained in every game, the Steelers improved to 6-3.
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“That was easy,” coach Mike Tomlin joked as he stepped to the podium after the game.
It was another imperfect, but winning, afternoon from the Steelers in a season full of them. Mounting injuries and self-inflicted wounds remain concerns, and the sustainability of this formula is still in question. But if the Steelers run the ball like they did Sunday, they might be able to keep up their improbable winning ways.
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“I thought our bigs up front on offense did a really good job of controlling it,” Tomlin said. “I thought we were able to run the ball effectively. That’s a good posture to play from.”
After the Steelers’ offense struggled in the first half of last season, they rebounded to go 7-2 down the stretch in large part because they transformed into the league’s eight-best rushing team after the bye week. Coming into this season, the expectation was the Steelers would once again lean on the potent rushing attack that keyed last year’s second-half surge to take some pressure off of Pickett.
However, through the first seven games of the season, Pittsburgh’s rushing attack was a great mystery. The Steelers ranked 28th in yards per game (79.7) and 29th in yards per carry (3.4).
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But just when many began to wonder what was wrong and whether the Steelers could rectify the issues before it was too late, the results improved significantly — almost overnight.
In Week 9 against the Tennessee Titans, the Steelers produced their best rushing performance of the season, accumulating a season-high 166 yards on the ground. Against the Packers on Sunday, they one-upped that performance. Pittsburgh set a new season-high with 205 rushing yards on 36 carries (5.7 average) to go along with two rushing touchdowns.
Warren paced the Steelers with 15 carries for a career-best 101 yards (6.7 average). Harris added a season-high 82 yards on 16 carries (5.1).
Jaylen Warren said he might keep the jersey to remember his first career 100-yard performance, but it’s kinda expensive lol pic.twitter.com/ehnAQ3T5Pq
— Mike DeFabo (@MikeDeFabo) November 12, 2023
So what changed?
Playing first-round pick Broderick Jones at right tackle and opening up the playbook to highlight his athleticism certainly helps. But what else is different?
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“I know what it was,” Harris said. “But it’s something that’s kept in the family, in the locker room, that I think is a big reason why we’re turning it around.”
Well, one thing that did change for sure is the way the Steelers prepare to run the ball and how they hold players accountable.
Recently, the offensive linemen, running backs and tight ends began meeting together every Thursday to discuss the game plan on the ground. Offensive line coach Pat Meyer gets up on the whiteboard and details how each run should go and where the cuts are.
“It’s new the last couple of weeks, and I think it’s helpful,” center Mason Cole said. “We kind of understand the different positions’ struggles and what’s difficult for them. To be in the room with them, you’re seeing it from their point of view — how the running backs see the play, what they’re reading.”
Within those meetings, Harris said the Steelers have also discovered some things that have opened up the running game. While he chose to keep the details of those conversations in-house, the offense does appear to be changing some of its tendencies.
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• Lighter personnel groupings: Through the first six games, the Steelers ran out of two-tight end formations an average of 5.4 times per game. However, by doing so, they allowed the defenses to match personnel and bring in big bodies to load the box. In the last three games, the Steelers have shifted to more runs out of 11 personnel (one tight end, one back). On Sunday, for example, the Steelers ran a season-high 34 times out of 11 personnel and a season-low one time out of 12, per TruMedia.
• More shotgun: They’re also running out of the shotgun more often, which has added more unpredictability at the line of scrimmage. After a season-high 21 shotgun runs last Thursday against the Titans, the Steelers called 17 runs out of the shotgun Sunday for 92 yards.
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• More gap scheme: The types of runs have also changed a bit. Pittsburgh relied mostly on zone blocking through the first seven games of the season, with 77 of 123 runs (62.6 percent) charted as zone by Pro Football Focus. They’ve been more balanced of late, with more pulling guards and tackles (particularly Jones) on gap-scheme runs.
• More balance: Finally, the Steelers are deploying their running backs much more evenly of late. Warren averaged 6.4 yards per carry through the first seven games and never had double-digit carries in a game. He’s set season highs in each of the last two weeks with 11 carries against the Titans and another 15 Sunday.
When asked about the recent turnaround, Tomlin noted that the Steelers are about to face a big test against the Browns’ defense, which ranks in the top 10 in yards per rush and total rushing yards allowed. But if the Steelers can prove that the changes they’ve made are sustainable, they might have rediscovered last year’s winning formula.
“When we have that kind of balance, I think we’re going to be a tough out,” Pickett said. “We’ve just got to continue to have that balance, the pass game working with the run. Use all the weapons that we have on offense and continue to push that way.”
(Photo of Jaylen Warren, right, Broderick Jones, 77, and Darnell Washington: Justin K. Aller / Getty Images)
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