Najee Harris is coming off three straight 100-yard performances for the first time in his four-year career. Russell Wilson taking over at quarterback has elevated the passing game, which affects how defenses play against the Steelers' offense. However, both Harris and a patchwork offensive line deserve credit, too.
Over the first five weeks of the season, the running game was producing yards, but only out of sheer will to run the football. While the Steelers ranked in the upper third of the league in rushing, they were near the very bottom of it in efficiency stats, such as yards per carry, rush EPA (Expected Points Added) and rushing success rate.
With Jaylen Warren and Cordarrelle Patterson going down with injuries in consecutive weeks, the offense relied on Harris to be the bell cow, just as he was during his rookie season in 2021. Unfortunately, the offensive line had its fair share of injuries, only much more serious. By the time the Steelers lost to the Colts in Week 4, they had lost Nate Herbig, first-round pick Troy Fautanu and James Daniels for the season.
During the first five weeks of the season, before Harris' 100-yard streak began, the rushing number for Harris were terrible. He carried the ball 82 times -- more than any other running back in the league -- for 270 yards and no touchdowns. That's an average of just 3.29 yards per carry. And, only 2.4% of his carries produced runs of 15 or more yards.
A deeper dive into some of these numbers were even more alarming. While Harris was pretty efficient when the Steelers ran inside zone, Harris averaged just 2.25 yards per carry on all gap/man concepts. That really limits the playbook.
Now the offensive line was part of this, too. During this stretch, Harris averaged 1.15 yards before contact per carry (YBC/A). Of all ball carriers with at least 30 attempts, that was the eighth-lowest mark. It's hard to get anything going when first contact is usually coming a yard past the line of scrimmage. And, on Power concepts, at which Harris excelled last season post-Matt Canada, he was averaging -0.43 yards before contact per carry. The offensive line wasn't blocking nearly enough.
But things have changed over the past three weeks. And, to be brutally honest, they should have changed in Week 5 against the Cowboys. The past four teams the Steelers have faced all are subpar against the run, specifically against gap/man concepts. But, as we know now, we've seen much different results.
I dove into four different plays from Monday night's 26-18 win over the Giants that are pretty indicative of what's been going right with the running game over the past three weeks:
Over the past three games, Harris has carried the ball 54 times for 322 yards and two touchdowns. That's a whopping 5.96 yards per carry. And, we have seen a dramatic increase in his gap/man-scheme efficiency. While Harris is averaging a very good 5.84 yards per carry in all zone concepts, he's also averaging 6.14 yards per carry in gap/man. Also, 11.1% of his runs during this stretch have gone 15 or more yards. Of the top 10 rushers over the past three weeks, that's second to only Chicago's D'Andre Swift.
A big reason for this jump is Harris averaging 2.41 yards before contact per carry. That's more than double what he was averaging before. That means Harris has on average nearly 2.5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage to read the defense and make necessary reads and run with a full head of steam.
Breaking that down further, Harris has a 2.42 YBC/A on Duo concepts, 2.93 YBC/A on inside zone and a whopping 15.5 YBC/A on Power concepts, though that last number is on just two carries.
There's a lot of credit to go around here. Arthur Smith's game plans have been working much more effectively in recent weeks. As I said at the very beginning, Wilson has elevated the passing game. But, the offensive line is blocking better in the run game.
"I would have to give all the credit to the guys up front. The tight ends, Alfredo Roberts, coaching them, because we’re a byproduct of that," running backs coach Eddie Faulkner said Wednesday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "I’m talking to my guys about hitting their landmarks all the things that we’re always gonna talk about and I’m always going to be real detailed with that, but obviously those guys up front got to be clicking for us to be productive, and they have been, so, credit’s gotta go up front."
That's great. And, there's also truth to it. But, Harris deserves a ton of credit for the way he's been running the ball. Better blocking obviously makes Harris' job easier. But, he's showing a form that might be the most consistent we've seen from him since he was drafted in 2021.
We'll see if all of this carries over into the second half of the season. If it does, this team could very well compete for a division title.
