The Pittsburgh Steelers secured a 20-10 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 3 to remain undefeated during the 2024 season. They will hold their place at the top of the AFC North, and add a little cushion to their lead in the division after the Cleveland Browns lost. Both sides of the ball were dominant for the Steelers in the second half of their victory. The passing game was on fire with Justin Fields, and the running game helped secure the victory late thanks to Najee Harris and Cordarrelle Patterson.
Pittsburgh's running game didn't look great in the first half, but it came to life in the second. They were able to eat up clock and ice the game at the end by picking up first downs on the ground. It was Harris and Patterson carrying the workload, as Jaylen Warren was noticeably missing from the offensive game plan. Head Coach Mike Tomlin spoke about the third-year running back not seeing much action during his post game press conference.
"Jaylen Warren wasn't able to finish there late in the second half. I pulled him from the game. It just didn't look like he was running smoothly. We'll evaluate him."
Warren did suffer a hamstring injury during the preseason which caused him to miss some time in practice. Soft tissue injuries like that are hard to come back from, and often times players are seen re-aggravating those kinds of injuries. Warren was confident that he would be ready for the regular season, but hasn't looked like himself throughout the first three weeks of the season. The hamstring injury is probably still affecting him and he is trying to play through it.
Warren was a bit of a surprise for the Steelers over the last two seasons. The organization signed him as an undrafted free agent following the 2022 NFL Draft, and he quickly became a contributor on offense. He hasn't been able to do much so far in the 2024 season. He finished Pittsburgh's Week 3 contest with just three rushing attempts for five yards. He also caught one pass that went for negative yardage.
Patterson did a good job of picking up the slack for Warren, as he had four carries for 33 yards. Most of those yards came on Pittsburgh's final drive as they ran the clock out to secure the victory. Pittsburgh's rushing game has been solid, but the absence of Warren has certainly been noticeable. He is also counted on as a receiving back, but Harris was seen in that role on Sunday as he caught five passes from Fields.
Steelers' Warren Should Miss Some Time To Get Back To Full Health
Pittsburgh running game proved on Sunday that it can operate and be successful without Warren. This should allow the team to sideline Warren for a little bit while he returns to full health. He doesn't look like himself, and he shouldn't sacrifice his body while Pittsburgh has both Harris and Patterson in the running back room to carry the reigns. Patterson has been a serviceable running back in recent years, and he knows Arthur Smith's system well. The team can trust him to fill in for Warren.
Harris and Warren have been one of the best backfield duos in the league over the last two seasons. They each accounted for over 1,000 scrimmage yards during the 2023 season, and if Warren wants to get back to that level he should take some time to get his body right. Tomlin decided to pull him from the game on Sunday, so he will likely decide to keep him sidelined in order to get the third-year running back back to full health.
