Pittsburgh Steelers running back, Najee Harris has now played two seasons for the black and gold. Harris had a trying second season after setting the Steelers rookie rushing record last season and the franchise rookie reception record. Halfway through this season, many fans and observers of the team were comparing him to Trent Richardson and calling for him to be replaced by undrafted rookie free agent, Jaylen Warren as the lead back in Pittsburgh.
Harris was two different players this season. He was hesitant to hit holes hard during the first eight games and only rushed for 361 yards before the bye week. He was initially slowed by a foot injury, but he was not running with any decisive authority either. Coming out of the bye against the New Orleans Saints, a switch was turned on. Somebody reminded Harris that outside of Derrick Henry, he should be the most physical back in the NFL, and suddenly he was just that.
Warren was a pleasant surprise this season for the Steelers, and he helped unlock Mike Tomlin’s mindset to the fact that two effective running backs make your workhorse back better. Harris rushed for 677 yards in the last nine games, but more importantly, ran with the anger and authority that he demonstrated for the University of Alabama. The two backs complement each other perfectly and the dynamic duo should be an effective combination in Pittsburgh for years to come.
“It’s perseverance man, a lot of times things aren’t going to go your way,” Harris said after the game. “I’ve never been around a team where things were just smooth, even when I was at Alabama. For us to persevere and stick together with how things were, I think it just comes into next year when we are going through some trouble, we can just recall back to this year when we just stuck through and stuck it out.”
Harris was anointed the leader of the offense by Tomlin in training camp and it may have been the source of the backlash against him when he and the team were struggling in a 2-6 start. Leaders aren’t anointed, they have to prove it on the field, and in his darkest hours, when his mettle was tested, Harris answered the call. He demonstrated the ability that the Steelers thought they were getting when they drafted him and the football character to overcome adversity.
“That was just for Mike T,” Harris concluded about the team’s 9-8 finish. “When we were 2-6, he always said ‘I’m not going to blink.’ He never changed, he never switched up, that’s his leadership. For us to come in there and win for him and not have that losing season, it was a big day for us.”
There are no such things as moral victories in the NFL and the sting of not making the playoffs should and will be a pain point for this team until they take the field in the fall. Tomlin’s streak of non-losing seasons is met with varying reactions, but it is clear that it was important to this team. The offense is exceedingly young and while they won’t get a playoff game, they did perform under pressure to close the season on a four-game winning streak.
It would be easy to look back at the missed opportunities this team had during the season and identify the myriad of issues that plagued the offense. During the long wait until the NFL Draft, they will be dissected endlessly. Not today though. A young team took a big step forward and accomplished something that was very important to them as a group. In the moment, that only deserves our praise and thanks for showing what is possible when they put it all together.
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