Jaylen Samuels got 13 snaps Sunday in the Steelers' 33-3 loss at New England and it wasn't because the Patriots were winning the game by a bunch.
OK, that might have had a little something to do with it.
But the Steelers went into that game intent on using both Samuels and starter James Conner, sometimes even on the field together. We saw glimpses of that package in the offseason and preseason, and the Steelers did use both Conner and Samuels on the field together once against New England.
Moving forward, we might see it even more.
"We actually went into the game with a pretty extensive Pony Package to have both running backs in the game at the same time," Randy Fichtner confirmed Thursday. "It's a unique balance to keep both guys fresh, especially early in the season. It just never seemed like it flowed enough."
The 13 snaps in a game in which Conner played a full game -- well, if you want to call it that -- was a first for Samuels, a second-year player. The only other time that happened in 2018 was in a blowout win against the Panthers in which Conner was pulled early and Samuels got 18 snaps in the fourth quarter.
"I'm willing to help contribute however I can. Thirteen reps was a lot compared to what I got last year early in the season. I wasn't getting any reps early in the season," Samuels told me. "For me to get that in the first game, it was pretty good. But I'm willing to build on that."
The plan this year is to play both running backs at the same time. And that could mean there are times when one of the two could even be asked to block for the other -- especially since the Steelers are expected to be without Roosevelt Nix for the next two to three weeks because of a knee injury.
That's not to say Samuels or Conner will line up at fullback, but they could be asked to block on the edge after splitting out wide.
"Once we are both on the field, (opponents) know one of us is more of a skill guy and the other one is a runner," Samuels said. "That's why I worked so hard in this offseason to work on my blocking, so he can run the ball and I can go block or I can run the ball and he can go block. We can really do anything out of that set. We're trying to get it going."
Samuels is a little different from most "third down" backs around the league. He's not a scat back. He's listed at 225 pounds, though he said he's closer to 220 this season.
"I feel like we can really get this thing going with two backs if we execute while we're out there," Samuels told me.
MORE STEELERS
• The Steelers, and most notably, Art Rooney II, sometimes receive criticism about being too slow to react to things. But being overreactive can get a team into trouble quickly. And there does need to be a voice of reason guiding things. Here's an example. After the Steelers gained just 32 yards rushing on 13 carries Sunday, a source told me one of the members of the team's ownership group thought the team should contact the Chargers and try to trade for running back Melvin Gordon, who is holding out and wants a new deal from the Chargers. That has not happened. -- Lolley
• The signing of Joe Haden to a new contract leaves the Steelers at $9.4 million under the 2019 salary cap per NFLPA.com, because, as expected, his new deal lowered his 2019 base salary to $1.2 million. Haden now is due a $3.5-million roster bonus on the fifth day of the new league year in 2020, as well. Haden received a $13.8-million signing bonus on his new deal, but $8.8 million of that was money he was due this year in salary, so in essence he got a $5-million signing bonus and then a $3-million roster bonus three days after signing the deal. So while the contract is $22 million in new money for Haden, the Steelers can release him after this season and save $7 million in salary cap space with $5.6 million in dead cap. That's unlikely to happen, but this was a very team-friendly deal for the Steelers, who had just under $5 million in available cap space before the move. -- Lolley
• Chase Winovich, the Patriots' third-round rookie linebacker out of Thomas Jefferson High School, made no friends among his old hometown team. Several Steelers told me they were furious with him for "never, ever shutting up" for the duration of the game -- he logged 38 snaps, one tackle, one hurry -- and, indeed, David DeCastro took an unnecessary roughness penalty in the fourth quarter to try to address that very thing. Most of his invective, I'm told, was aimed at Ben Roethlisberger, who also didn't appreciate it. -- Dejan Kovacevic
• One other thing about that opening loss that might morph into a positive over time: The finger-pointing scale was a 0.00, from what I could gather. It hasn't always been that way. There'd be the odd muttering about this player or that execution or that decision. Absolutely nothing after this. Now, it helps that almost everyone on the roster performed terribly, but hey. -- DK
PIRATES
• The Pirates took three of four from the Giants here at Oracle Park, but the altercation between Kyle Crick and Felipe Vazquez overshadowed all. Crick's out for the year, Vazquez required six stitches on his nose; Crick received a $2,500 fine and Vazquez $10,000. A source here confirmed that Crick will file a grievance, as he feels he was defending himself after Vazquez threw the first punch. But here's the thing ... The mood in the clubhouse appears fine. Crick is still there, walking around, smiling, chatting. Ditto for Vazquez. After Game 4, a team employee turned down the clubhouse speaker before conducting an interview — the Crick-Vazquez scuffle ostensibly began over Crick's choice of music — and Joe Musgrove joked about him messing with the tunes. That brought a laugh from the pitchers gathered in the corner. This was an ugly incident, but it's already feeling like it's in the past. -- Hunter Homistek in San Francisco
• One longtime big-league evaluator/instructor, who has an extensive background with an American League team long associated with doing things right, sent me this text after the Crick-Vazquez spat: "I would say it's Nutting that has to act. Because the Pirates have embarrassed Major League Baseball in the clubhouse and on the field." -- DK
• More peripheral heat appears to be aimed at Clint Hurdle, which has surprised me since that really hadn't been the case until this month. One source inside the team suggested the main casualties this offseason could be Hurdle and Kyle Stark, Huntington's mainstay lieutenant and the architect of the woefully deficient minor-league system. But I've never had that corroborated. -- DK
• The Pirates spending too much money? Yeah, I know, I know. But that's another thing that's been sent my way the past couple weeks, and this week from someone wholly new as a source. Both sources said the team actually has far too large of a budget for minor-league development but added that's because a big chunk of it is "abused," per the new source, "on baseball issues projects." That's the common lingo for all the Hoka Hey/Mental Olympics stuff I'm regularly citing. The source described Stark as "power hungry vs. win hungry!" and added, "The only guy missing the boat is the owner!" -- DK
• The name that's suddenly being whispered within team circles as possible trade bait this offseason is Josh Bell. This, too, is new. But I'm not taking this remotely seriously until we see who's actually running baseball ops after all this settles. -- DK
PENGUINS
• When the off-season began, it appeared to be virtually certain that the Penguins would trade a goaltender rather than risk losing one on waivers when he was sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Later, Jim Rutherford said the goalie market had dried up, and that he was open to the idea of holding onto Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith, as well as starter Matt Murray. Now, however, other teams' interest in getting a goalie from the Penguins appears to be rising, which means the prospects of a trade before the regular-season opener Oct. 3 against Buffalo are increasing. "We'll see," Rutherford said. "There's been a little more talk, as we got closer to camp, from other teams, so we'll see how that goes. Usually what happens is that once you get into camp, teams start to look a little more. We like all three goalies, so if we ended up keeping them, I'd be fine with that. But that might be hard to do." -- Dave Molinari
• Marcus Pettersson got a one-year contract from the Penguins Thursday, and is in line for something that might be even more significant: An audition for a spot on the No. 2 defense pairing. After being acquired from the Ducks last December, Pettersson worked primarily on the third pairing, but Mike Sullivan said he will have an opportunity to claim a spot opposite Justin Schultz when training-camp drills begin Friday. "He's a mobile guy," Sullivan said. "He's got a long reach. Because of that, he's difficult to play against, and he defends pretty well with his stick. Marcus is a guy we think has a real 200-foot game. He can play on both sides of the puck. He's just a solid defenseman. Because of that, we can utilize him different ways, in different capacities." -- Molinari
• A number of young players made positive impressions on management during the prospects tournament in Buffalo last week. Wingers Samuel Poulin and Nathan Legare, their top two choices in the June draft, each scored twice in three games, while Sam Lafferty and fellow Wilkes-Barre/Scranton product Anthony Angello did a lot of good things, too. But the defense corps -- especially the top four of Calen Addison, John Marino, Niclas Almari and Pierre-Olivier Joseph -- got its share of good reviews, too. And maybe a bit more. "A couple of years ago, we didn't have a young defenseman coming along (in the organization)," Rutherford said. "Our top four defensemen (from the tournament), they're all real good prospects who have a chance to play (in the NHL), eventually. Joseph had a terrific tournament. He played really well, so we're real pleased with that." -- Molinari
• During the off-season, the Penguins acquired three forwards -- Dominik Kahun, Alex Galchenyuk and Brandon Tanev -- who figure prominently in their plans for 2019-20, so it stands to reason that Sullivan and his staff did a little technology-driven evaluating of them this summer. "We've learned a little bit about them, just by watching some film and trying to familiarize ourselves with certain things," he said. "With the way the technology is at this point and how well our hockey operations staff communicates with our coaching staff through Jim Rutherford, we've got a pretty good idea of the strengths of the players that we acquire and how we can can best utilize them. We're certainly going to try to familiarize ourselves with them the best we can, but there's nothing better than seeing them on our own team, with live performances. That's why I look forward to training camp and trying to familiarize myself, up close, with some of our new players." -- Molinari