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Steelers running back Najee Harris stiff-arms Browns safety Grant Delpit as he runs during the first half Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, in Cleveland. Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK

Najee Harris takes blame for Steelers' running game struggles, focuses on 'executing'

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 9/30/22

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a lot of problems on offense this season, and the lack of a consistent running game is certainly among them.

On Friday, starting running back Najee Harris spoke about those issues and said he is tired of hearing the criticism for the offensive line and the wide receivers and that the blame should be put squarely on him.

"I see in social media and all that how bad they talk about our O line. But it's not. It's me," said Harris, via The Athletic's Mike DeFabo. "We need to just stop focusing on them and focus on me rather. So that's one thing I do want to address."

He also talked about how he feels the outside criticism from the media is trying to break apart the offense.

More Najee (2/2): "You guys come in here and ask questions to all the receivers and all the guys, Mitch, about what's not working. That's not how you build. It's not how you how you get better. You guys are breaking us up. We need to find a way that we can just stay together."
— Mike DeFabo (@MikeDeFabo) September 30, 2022

He later continued. "Play calling and all of that is fine. It's just us executing. You guys keep blaming it on other people. It's us in the locker room. We need to come together and focus on what we need to improve upon every week."

Through the first three games, the Steelers rank near the bottom of the league in rushing, averaging just 90 yards and 4.1 yards per carry. Individually, Harris has just 128 yards on 40 carries (3.2 yard per carry average).

He was a standout rookie a year ago and has already emerged as one of the biggest leaders on the offense is a team captain in just his second season. You can see a lot of that on display here when he went to bat for his teammates and tried to pull the blame and criticism away from them.

Harris has been dealing with some injuries through the preseason and early part of the regular season, which has no doubt impacted his play.

Still, even though the offensive line has been better than expected in pass protection, it has still struggled to create holes and open space in the running game as there is not much room for him and rookie Jaylen Warren to gain ground.

Overall the Steelers are averaging just 18 points per game (19th in the NFL), and their only time topping the 20-point mark came in Week 1 when they scored 23 points in a win over the reigning AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals. They got seven of those points from a defensive touchdown on an interception return by Minkah Fitzpatrick.

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