The Atlanta Falcons’ running backs room features a pair of young playmakers: one is a 1,000-yard rusher, the other holds the franchise record for rookies in yards from scrimmage. There’s also the age-old question of how to best use them.

In Atlanta’s season-opening 18-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, the Falcons opted to rely heavily on one — sophomore star Bijan Robinson, who had 18 carries for 68 yards and added five receptions for 53 yards. His 23 touches tied a career high he reached just twice last season.

Tyler Allgeier, the proverbial bolt from Robinson’s lightning bolt, saw just three carries, which he converted into 21 yards. Robinson played 50 snaps, or 89 percent of the team’s total, while Allgeier was limited to just 10 snaps, a paltry 18 percent of the offense’s time on the field.

Atlanta has four running backs on its roster, as Robinson and Allgeier are joined by return specialist Avery Williams and sixth-round rookie Jase McClellan. Williams, who entered the NFL as a cornerback in 2022, played only on special teams in the loss to Pittsburgh and has yet to see a regular-season contribution. McClellan was inactive in his first professional game.

Add a pocket-passing quarterback in 36-year-old Kirk Cousins, and the Falcons’ run game will likely rely entirely on Robinson and Allgeier. How much of each, though, is the question — and first-year offensive coordinator Zac Robinson said it’s an ongoing process between him, running backs coach Michael Pitre and the rest of the coaching staff.

“Not to overstate it, one week of football is the most important thing, but Bijan and Tyler, they keep mixing it up,” Zac Robinson said during his press conference on Thursday. “Coach Pitre does a great job of mixing those guys up. So that’s going to be, again, week to week, the flow of the game, all those different things.

“But after a week it is of course still a bit uncertain.”

Last season, Atlanta’s offense, led by head coach and play-caller Arthur Smith, now the Steelers’ offensive coordinator, was run-oriented but also well-balanced.

Robinson had 214 carries to Allgeier’s 186, but in snaps Robinson outgained Allgeier with 771 to 360. Robinson finished the year with 976 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, while Allgeier totaled 683 yards and four scores.

The Falcons face a natural learning curve early in the season with a new coordinator in Zac Robinson, a new head coach in Raheem Morris, a new quarterback in Cousins ​​and a tough season opener that continues Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles.

That curve may have been further exaggerated by Atlanta’s decision not to play its starters in the preseason. The Falcons benched more than 5,000 reps in summer workouts, but as Zac Robinson noted on Thursday, the speed of the game is a far cry from the pace of practice and resulted in a subpar performance in Week 1.

Game flow proved to be another challenge for Atlanta’s offense. The Steelers had the ball for more than 10 minutes longer than the Falcons, who ran just 50 plays, largely because of penalties, turnovers and a subsequent inability to sustain drives.

When Atlanta took the court, it gave Bijan Robinson a hefty dose — 46 percent — of touches. Morris noted after the game that he liked the way Robinson produced, but that the first-year coach is more focused on winning than individual production, indicating that Robinson’s high involvement rate is unlikely to become a trend.

Pitre said during training camp that he and Zac Robinson look strategically at the best betting plan, which can ultimately change on match days depending on who has the best hand and how the match develops.

“We’re going to do what’s best for the Atlanta Falcons and give ourselves a chance to win whenever we play,” Pitre said on Aug. 5. “So it’s tough to say, ‘Hey, this guy is going to touch the ball this much.’ I think we know we have two guys that we view as starting-caliber running backs in the NFL and that’s a good problem for us to have.

“I said to both of them, ‘Hey, they’re going to help us win football games.’”

Allgeier took a handoff for 13 yards on Atlanta’s opening drive against Pittsburgh, but didn’t get a touch until the 7:45 mark in the third quarter. Robinson, meanwhile, touched the ball on 15 of Atlanta’s first 27 plays.

For Allgeier, who also made four appearances on special teams, the goal is to stay involved and perform well when he has to replace Robinson.

“It’s all in the flow of the game,” Allgeier said after the game. “Whenever I get the chance to step in, I just do my part — complement Bijan.”

Allgeier’s smaller role was as a microcosm of the Falcons’ overall offense.

Atlanta’s offense had just 21 designed rushes, which it carried for 89 yards, an average of 4.2 yards per carry. After ranking third in the league with 522 attempts under Smith last season, the lackluster ground presence was particularly noticeable against Pittsburgh.

When Morris discussed why the Falcons scored so few runs, he pointed to the same problems that led to Atlanta’s overall demise against Pittsburgh: penalties and self-inflicted fouls that left the offense behind and forced to take a different approach to the rules.

“If you get off track, your runs are limited,” Morris said. “If you don’t get a chance to find that rhythm, they’re going to limit your attempts. I think they had 41 and we were able to get to 20. We wanted to get really high with that — we couldn’t get to that stage — so we can make sure we can control the ball, which (Pittsburgh) did, and get those things going.”

The Falcons will look to get their ground game going — and find the balance between Robinson and Allgeier — at 8:15 p.m. Monday when they take on the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.