Steelers vs. Bills: 4 storylines that will dominate Week 1
By Peter Panacy
No. 3: How is Najee Harris looking in his first regular-season game?
Rookies are always fun to watch, especially at the beginning of a year when there’s so much hype and hope to surround them, and this should certainly be the case with Pittsburgh’s first-round NFL Draft pick, running back Najee Harris.
Offensive coordinator Matt Canada is expected to relieve some of the pressure on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger this year by focusing more on the ground game, also infusing some short-area passes to lessen the number of times Big Ben has to wind up and use whatever remaining arm strength he has left.
Needless to say, Harris was equally as big a dual-threat weapon during his time at Alabama, so it wouldn’t be a shock whatsoever to see him utilized as an extension of the passing game.
Harris averaged only 3.2 yards per attempt on 13 preseason carries. But like almost everything else exhibition-related, there’s not much that can be drawn from that. The real test for the rookie will be seeing how he matches up against what’s projected to be a so-so Buffalo run defense this season.
If that performance goes well, Harris could be in line for an excellent year one.