Canada expresses confidence that Harris will turn it around

There's no two ways around it: Najee Harris has not had a good year.

The Steelers were criticized by some for taking a running back in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, though Harris' rookie performance seemed to quell that. However, through the 2-6 start this season, he's yet to show he's the same running back. He's averaging only 3.3 yards per carry, which is 0.6 less than last year. His yards per reception is down from 6.3 yards to 4.7. His yards per touch is at 3.6, which is down almost a whole yard from 2021.

He is even down in some areas of strength that stood out as a rookie, such as yards after contact. Last year, he averaged 2.2 yards after contact per carry. This year, it's only 1.3 yards. Right now, he is on pace to break only 15 tackles after breaking 30 last season.

Pro Football Focus gave Harris a 70.7 grade as a rookie, which ranked 42nd of the NFL's 147 running backs. He currently has a 61.1 grade, which ranks 50th of 60 qualified running backs.

"When we're sitting here at 2-6, we're all searching and hunting for why that is," Matt Canada said Thursday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "If you're a competitor, which Najee is, and you're a winner, which Najee is, if you're a guy who wants to do all he can to help the team win, which he is, you're going to ultimately look at yourself and really say, 'What can I do better?' I think that's what Najee's doing. Najee's just gotta go out and play football. And he will. Najee's a tremendous talent. Again, nobody's numbers are what they are. And, nobody's happy with where we are. But, we're going to continue to keep going. He'll start trending in the right direction as well."

Even though Harris has vehemently denied it's impacted his performance, he has had to overcome a Lisfranc sprain in his foot this season, which can be detrimental to any running back, especially when he was trying to play through it with a steel plate in his shoe for the first few weeks. The offensive line's performance in the run game has also lagged behind what they've been able to do in pass protection. In addition, the Steelers have been forced to play from behind in a few different games, which has caused the offense to become more one-dimensional.

All of those factors play a role in why the running game has struggled to this point in the season. But, at the end of the day, results are ultimately what matter.

"I think Najee is in a good spot. He's healthy, feeling good. Practicing hard. He'll be good," Canada said. "Again, everything is 11 men doing their job. Everybody's gotta do their job. It's not just Najee. But, Najee can improve. He sees that. He's going to work to do what he can do. That's all he can do."

The Steelers shifted to more outside zone schemes in the run game this season, which requires a time of adjustment for both the line and the running backs. The most critical part of having that come together is through communication. 

Every single person on the offense I've spoken with has done nothing but praise Harris' communication off the field. The results may not have coalesced yet on the field. But, the efforts behind the scenes to make everything work hasn't faltered, even with poor results. That's earned praise from his teammates, which probably explains why he was named one of the captains on this team.

"This is all Najee does. I was talking about it the other day. I was like, 'What did you do during your off-days? What did you do during the bye week?' He's like, 'I just hung out at home,'" Mason Cole told me. "Najee doesn't do much. Najee's all about balling, and I think it shows. He's always in here. He's always asking me about protection stuff, run game stuff, what runs we like. Just as a communicator off the field, it's just really impressive to see a young guy, a second-year guy in the league, be like that."

Harris has done all of this with Jaylen Warren continuing to trend upward week after week -- so much so, fans have begun calling for Warren to start. And when Mike Tomlin was asked directly during his press conference this week if Warren could potentially earn a feature back role, the answer wasn't a no.

Canada had a similar answer Thursday regarding Warren's increasing role in the offense, even though Warren confirmed Thursday he's earning the same number of reps he has before.

"When we talk about who's trending, Jaylen's been explosive. When you look at the plays, what he's done when he's on the field -- blocking, running the ball, catching the ball," Canada said. "Obviously, he is writing his own script, in my opinion. From coming in from where he started to where he is now, he's elevated and does a great job. We'll continue to use him. We've gotta get the ball to the guys who are making plays. ... We'll look to see how that evolves. But, as always when we talk about him, he's done a great job."

Halfway through the second year of a player's career -- especially when their rookie year was a success -- is hardly the time to give up on a player. As high as the expectation is for Harris, the big picture here cannot be forgotten. Harris is a second-year player playing in an offense that features two other rookie starters -- including one at quarterback -- and an offensive line that is still working out the kinks in learning the new running schemes.

Harris has repeatedly called for the team to stick together and allow this time of trial to galvanize the group and prepare them for future success.

As it will be with Kenny Pickett, the next nine games could be very critical for Harris' future in the NFL.

MORE FROM THE SOUTH SIDE

• Players and coaches did a variety of things during their bye week. Canada has quite the task of trying to turn a sputtering offense into anything productive. The good news is the Steelers' offensive coordinator remained focused on the task at hand.

"I pretty much just kept working on football," Canada said. "We all got away. Coach gave us some time off. But, I stayed in town. It was good to have a chance to evaluate where we are -- as a staff, players, all the way around."

• I tried to ask Canada if he had done some self-evaluation during the time away. This was his response:

"We've got a plan that comes from Coach -- the way we keep trying to win to orchestrate victory, to engineer victory as Coach talks about," Canada said. "Every week we're going to do that. We certainly looked at every game and every play in the last week of why it didn't work. Whatever that reason was, we were honest about it with everybody involved and looked to improve on it any way we could." 

• While he's not been activated yet, it sure looks as if T.J. Watt will be activated for Sunday's game. Virtually everyone is speaking as if it's a foregone conclusion, including Teryl Austin.

"I think any time you have a great player and the other team has to provide resources to protect from that player, it opens up some things for somebody else. And that's really what happens when you add T.J. to the mix. He's going to open things up," Austin said. "Cam [Heyward]'s not going to get the protection slid to him as much, Alex [Highsmith] won't get it slid to him as much, so now all of the sudden there are going to be some maybe one-on-one situations that maybe they haven't been in the last few weeks."

• It's no secret that players use an "us against the world" mentality when they play as underdogs. The Steelers are 2.5-point underdogs against the 3-6 Saints this week, so there might be some fans who like the Steelers' chances coming off a bye, playing against a losing team coming off a short week, with the added motivation of being underdogs.

While some players might use that as motivation, Heyward certainly doesn't.

"Underdogs and all that stuff makes no sense to me. Because I know in this game, if you're not ready to play, you will get exposed. It doesn't matter what your record is," Heyward said. "There's professionals on both sides of the ball. So, when someone says, 'underdog,' or they say they know what the spread is going to be, I really don't pay attention to that. I think that's a little deceiving. It's more of a fan tool rather than, 'Oh yeah, we're a 14-point underdog. We're really up against it.' That's not the way I look at it."

• Some players wanted to use the bye week to study film. Some used it to rest, relax and unplug from the game; do a full reset. Some did a little bit of both. With the defense needing to improve in both the run game and pressuring the quarterback, I asked Heyward what stood out to him during any film study. His answer gave a clear indication of which aforementioned group he was part of.

"To be honest with you, I didn’t watch a lick of film," he laughed. "I kind of closed the book on everything for a little bit. Just for my sanity."

Can't say I blame him. 

• On the injury front, Chris Boswell (groin), William Jackson III (back), Ahkello Witherspoon (hamstring) and Myles Jack (knee) did not practice for the second straight day. After not practicing Wednesday, Larry Ogunjobi (knee) was a limited participant Thursday. Levi Wallace (shoulder) and Christian Kuntz (ribs) fully participated for the second straight day.

In addition, but not nearly as serious, Malik Reed was excused from Thursday's practice for personal reasons and Cam Heyward was given a veteran's rest day.

• Regarding Jackson, Austin said he is "still a little bit hobbled, so I'm not sure what to expect, or if I can expect him this week." So, it sure doesn't look like he'll be suiting up this week.

"You'd want to get him out there by Friday so we can have some physical reps at it, but I think he's a veteran, he's been in the league long enough. He understands man coverage, he understands zone coverage, and basically, there might be some little twists and turns we may do, but I'm sure we can keep him out of those situations if possible. If we have the opportunity to have him and he can be out there to help us, then we'll use him." 

• In a good news/bad news situation, the Steelers activated Damontae Kazee from injured reserve, adding him to the 53-man roster. This, of course, gives the Steelers the opportunity to use the three-safety -- or big-nickel -- defense they experimented with in training camp and the preseason. But, it also gives them an opportunity to add a valuable player to a banged up secondary.

"We’ll see how he comes out of this week and how much we’ll be able to use him," Austin said. "If we’re able to use him, I’ll try to find some places to get him in the game. It may just be regular defense; it may not just be three safeties. We may get him regular defense, three-safety defense, whatever it might be, because I think he’s a good football player. So, we’ll work through that at the end of the week and as we get closer, we’ll kind of narrow those things down."

On the side of bad news, Boswell was placed on IR to create space on the 53-man roster. There was some fear that the issue with Boswell's groin would keep him out several weeks, and that has come to fruition. The next game Boswell will be eligible for is Week 14's home matchup against the Ravens.

• The Steelers' Hall of Honor Museum will be open to the public beginning Friday, Nov. 11. The walk through the museum offers an interactive look through the history of the franchise -- everything from Art Rooney Sr.'s creation of the team to the present day and all the glory in between.

"It was a labor of love putting it together, that's for sure," Art Rooney II said Thursday at a ribbon cutting ceremony. "Being able to display a lot of stuff we had in drawers and trunks, stuff like that, it is great to be able to put this on display and have our fans come in and learn more about the history."

The museum is filled with artifacts from the team's near 90-year history. From my walkthrough, I can tell you I truly believe what Franco Harris said about it: "Fans are going to love this. This is incredible."