Last Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers narrowly edged by the division rival, Cincinnati Bengals on a game-winning field goal from the leg of kicker, Chris Boswell. However, the win didn't feel quite as good knowing that multiple key players appeared to suffer significant injuries.
Pittsburgh Steelers kicker, Chris Boswell, celebrates a made kick against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. | Peter Diana / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Both OLB TJ Watt and RB Najee Harris left the game and went to the locker room with what at the time appeared to be significant injuries. For Watt, the reigning 2021 AP Defensive Player of the Year, it appears he avoided the worst case and will "only" miss 1-2 months of game action. A much better scenario than the season-ending injury much of Steeler Nation feared when we saw the dominant linebacker leave the field mouthing the words, "I tore it" when referring to his pectoral muscle.
While the news on Watt is still encouraging, the news on the Steelers' bell cow running back was even better. It was reported that the injury Harris suffered against the Bengals isn't considered to be serious, and that he might even play this upcoming week against the New England Patriots.
However, even if Harris is unable to go, the team can rest easy knowing that they have a solid option behind him that is readily prepared in rookie, Jaylen Warren.
Once Harris went out against the Bengals, Warren was able to fill in admirably in his absence running the ball strong and impressing everyone in Steeler Nation with his pass protection skills. Warren was also seeing snaps earlier in the game prior to the injury to Harris, which is a sign that the Steelers had faith in Warren as a solid #2 option going into the game. This is something that the team didn't have last season as Harris led the league in snaps from a running back.
Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO)
Steelers Have Found The RB2 They Needed In Jaylen Warren
Prior to practice on Monday, Warren talked with reporters briefly about his opportunity going into Week 1 and how he felt he did in his first NFL game. His responses are below:
"I was where I needed to be, I wasn't trying to do too much. Staying on my keys, and I feel I did a good job."
Warren was also asked what he was told by the coaching staff about how his role would change after the injury to Harris:
"The week of preparation, they prepared me to be in that situation. Anything can happen in a football game, they put me as RB2 and expected me to step up."
The video clip of this interview below, it was posted to Twitter by Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune:
Jaylen Warren on stepping into a bigger than expected role in his NFL debut yesterday pic.twitter.com/uPjf387b1T
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) September 12, 2022
Throughout training camp, Warren had a lot of opportunities to prove himself, as the competition for the RB2 spot was wide open. The competition consisted of veterans Benny Snell and Anthony McFarland, as well as rookie Mataeo Durant. Warren made the team over McFarland and Durant (McFarland still secured a spot with the Steelers' practice squad), and managed to beat out Snell for the role of backing up Harris.
Warren received more work with the first team offense during training camp than one would've expected heading in, as Harris missed a large portion of camp with a foot injury. That experience was obviously extremely valuable to Warren's comfort level with the starting offense and the speed of the game in Week 1.
Having someone behind Harris that the team can trust is going to be big moving forward, especially if they continue to utilize Warren, even when Harris is 100%. We all agree, Harris cannot have another workload like he did in 2021 and expect to remain healthy.
What did you think of Warren's performance in Week 1, as well as the Steelers' effort to ensure he was up to the task? Let us know below in the comments!
#SteelerNation
