Comparaison:Warren vs Harris

People dumped on me when I suggested this last season… hope they ate some crow for thanksgiving

 

Warrren a rare bright spot to this offense, yes. I still like the 2 back set tho.

 

I have no problem with 2 back set...In fact I love that!...But when this is the second half,we need to give the ball in our hot hands and lately,our hot hands at the RB position has been Warren

 

I don’t think there’s anyone that will disagree.

 

If Najee had better vision he’d be a good, without that, and lack of speed, all he’s got is some power

again maybe a new OC will know how to use him

 

That power comes in handy when you need 1 yard.

 

I don't think it's about giving one more carries than the other. It's about using the right one in the right situation.

 

Now look at the Texans game. LoL. When Najee had way more yards per carry than Warren.
Up until the last game ...the by what most people say....the slow Najee had the longest run this year, and the longest reception this year. Yes they will both look different against different teams. That little list is cherry picking. Also....again a few of Warren's big runs have come off a two back set where the ball is faked to Najee, and Warren gets the ball, and credit for the run.
Yet not once is the play done the the other way around. Ask yourselves why.....could it mean that they see the D automatically jumping toward Najee when He's on the field, and not Warren????
Both will look better in some games than the others...it's the way it is when you use both. I still don't understand why this is a problem. Our running game is the very least of our worries on offense. Its like some are bound , and determined to get Warren to be the only back.....then they can complain about running His wheels off....LoL.
Example: Like last week they went to Warren 3, or more times in a row....on the last time He raised his hand to the sidelines calling for a blow/break, and Najee came in, and the very 1st thing most on the game thread said was.....why are they putting Najee in....LoL....I didn't say anything, but I wanted to say......aren't You watching.....Warren wanted , and asked for a break, but that wasn't good enough.....it had to be some kind of conspiracy. LoL

 

I' take both every day of the week, if OL
Gives them some blocking these guys are dynamite.

 

There have been so very few times this season that Harris has looked better than Warren. He just hasn't. As for the "fake to Najee" thing, I think it shows more that they are trying to get Warren the ball with a crease, because he has the ability to turn a small crease into a big play... something Harris hasn't been able to do in his time in Pittsburgh. Team's aren't afraid of 4 yards a carry Najee. They ARE afraid that Warren could turn a little bit of open space into a home run (he scored vs the Browns and in the preseason vs the Bills from 60+ yards). He just adds an element to the offense that doesn't exist with 22 on the field.

It's not a problem to have 2 capable backs, the problem lies in the touch dispersion. Warren has been the better back for a while now, and its hard to argue that he hasn't earned the opportunity to carry more of the load. Najee still has a place in the offense, and he truly isn't a bad back. He's been disappointing based on the fact that he was a first round pick and we expected more than an average NFL runner, but its not like he doesn't deserve the ball. I'm also not against splitting the load. It would make both backs better and keep them fresh... I'm just saying that if the RB's touch the ball 30 times in a game that Warren needs to be getting about 18-20 of those touches.

 

All we needed to do was get a first down and run time of the clock against Cleveland

Warren was hot Pickett and DJ not so much so what does Canada call

RESULT PLAY
NO GAIN
1 & 10 - PIT 30
(1:42 - 4th) K.Pickett pass incomplete short right to D.Johnson.
NO GAIN
2 & 10 - PIT 30
(1:38 - 4th) K.Pickett pass incomplete deep right to D.Johnson.
NO GAIN
3 & 10 - PIT 30
(1:32 - 4th) K.Pickett pass incomplete short left to D.Johnson.
PUNT
4 & 10 - PIT 30
(1:28 - 4th) P.Harvin punts 47 yards to CLE 23 - Center-C.Kuntz. J.Proche pushed ob at CLE 35 for 12 yards (Ni.Herbig).

 

Damn thing about the whole thing, Harvin was the bright spot.

 

I think Najees has 2 1000 yr season. Not too bad playing behind Last years OL and this years Up to about 2 weeks a ago. Minimum 35 touches run or pass between both of them per game. Watch the W's stack.

 

I agree but if we run the ball 35 times, I don't want to see 25 carries for Harris and 10 for Warren. A 19-16 split would be much better.

 

Yes, Harris has two 1,000 yard seasons (1200 in 2021 and 1,034 in 2022). This is due to health and volume though. He has avoided injuries that have kept him out of games and has gotten the ball a TON. He got those amounts of yardage averaging under 3.9 yards per carry across those two seasons (and is under 4 yards a carry again in 2023). Najee Harris touched the ball 381 times his rookie year. With Jaylen's averages, he would have gone for nearly 2300 total yards that season.

I am fine feeding the RB's (especially with Kenny at QB), but Warren needs to get the lion's share of the duty. The offense as a whole will be more successful because of it.

 

1. It was done Behind one of the worst lines 2 years ago....when Green was our center, and Moore was a rookie....
2.
Here You go with fantasy again. You don't even know if Warren could carry the ball that many times.....sorry, but health, and availability matters.
3. What You said makes no sense about the fakes to Najee....if the D wasn't keying on Harris....it would be a waste to even do it. You go ahead and make Yourself believe the D doesn't care, or worry about a RB that has 17 tds, and almost 3000 yards in 2, and half years.

 

1. I agree with this. However, our line however has steadily improved over the past two years and he is still averaging the exact same... Not 100% sure what that means, but it isn't good. Warren has averaged considerably better the last 2 seasons behind the same lines. He has enough carries/touches for it to not be a fluke.

2. All I want is to give him a chance. We will never know if we don't give him a shot. He is more explosive, has better vision, is a big play waiting to happen... It would be AWESOME if we could get him the ball more, as our offense performs better when he is on the field than when he isn't. With how he has performed over the past year and a half, he has earned a chance to be the lead back. He's simply outperformed Harris and it isn't particularly close.

3. Yes it does. It doesn't matter if its a fake to Najee or a fake end around to a WR, they are trying to scheme creases for Warren. He is a "slasher" type runner. If there is a crease there, he is going to explode through it and is one missed tackle away from a big play (he is second in the NFL in forced missed tackles despite his lack of usage). Najee isn't that type of runner. He is more of a line up and maul them guy. Get him inbetween the tackles and wearing defenses out. He is less likely to hit a big play even with a huge hole available, but he can dish out punishment being a huge human being (I really wish he lowered his shoulder more instead of juking and hurdling). They are literally scheming plays for the type of back they have running the ball and this is the correct way to do it. Also, 17 TD's isn't impressive when you carry the ball over 700 times in that span and are the primary goal line back. 1200/1034 yards isn't that impressive for the same reasons. Najee is on pace for 217 carries and 846 yards. Every season they keep giving him the ball less and his statistics go down. He is getting weaned out of the offense. This is because we have someone better than him that is taking those carries and will hopefully continue to get more usage going forward.

I don't hate Harris. He is an okay back for the NFL. Nothing special, but certainly not awful. The main thing that sucks is that we drafted him in the first round and expected him to be a stud. It doubly sucks that the back taken directly after him IS a stud (Etienne). He is Rashard Mendenhall all over again. Decent back, should've been better, MUCH better player taken directly after him (CJ2K was taken right after Mendy). It stings. Then we hit the UDFA pile and get a guy that is better than him... ughhh.

 

What???? LoL.
Can We just say....We need both...., and one will always have a better day than the other??? It's the way it is when You run both. Also can You imagine how bad Warren's yards per carry would have been if they hadn't given Him that 3, and really long run when the D thought for sure We would pass, not counting another fumble...that cost us 3 points at least.

 

Remember that Harris had a weaker offensive line in front of him in 2021. He also had more carries behind a weaker line last season and early on this year. This current group with Jones is by far the best the team has had in that three-year span.

 

What a difference in the line with this beast in it. Needs to be moved to left tackle next season. A franchise tackle for years to come!

 

I did not, I was with you my friend

 

this - it took INJURY for Tomlin to make the CHANGE! Man is he a hard head MOST of the time!

 

This is not a knock on Warren buy any means. Guy has speed and heart. But you could see it yesterday. Those yards are harder to get when you get the ball on running downs. Najee was running into stacked boxes where the LBs where firing down hill at him at the snap.

He was getting hit in the backfield on 60 to 70%of his snaps

Harris is going to get you 3 to 6 every time

Warren just has that homerun option

HACK

 

It wasn't an injury. He got a spot start earlier in the season when Moore was hurt, but the permanent move into the lineup came when Tomlin benched Okorafor. Maybe it really was for saying something stupid, but that feels like cover for it being time to make the change.