Steelers Najee Harris plays a pivotal role in Pittsburgh’s offense

Najee Harris wasn’t efficient early in the season for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but here’s why his role is essential to the recent success of the team.

You will find the same in past seasons when he did not play as well. So, losing T.J. Watt is a big blow for the Steelers defense. However, in the last two seasons, there may be a bigger reason the Steelers lost games, and it may not have had anything to do with T.J. Watt. The real reason the Steelers lost games in 2021 and 2022 is actually centered around the Steelers failure to properly utilize Najee Harris.

One startling stat that jumps out when looking at all of the Steelers wins since the bye week is that Najee Harris has rushed for 593 yards, averaged 74.125 yards per game, and had 17.625 total touches per game when factoring in receptions since the New Orleans game. Thus the Steelers have gone 6-2. Before the bye week, the Steelers went 2-6, and Najee Harris rushed for 361 yards averaging 45.125 yards per game and only averaged 16.5 total touches per game when including receptions.

In the latter half of the 2022 season, Harris has 90-plus rushing yards in three games and 80-plus rushing yards in two more games. In the games, he rushed less than 50 yards; they are 1-1 since the bye week. In fact, the only loss after the bye week in which Najee had more than 50 rushing yards was the Bengals game.

Reasons for early struggles from Najee Harris

Now, critics have their arguments about the night and day difference between the first half of the Steelers first half season and the latter half for Najee. Early in the season, you could make a case for his foot injury and the plate in his shoe. Certainly, that had some effect. You could say the poor play of the offensive line before the midpoint of the season hampered the rushing game, and the point has some validity. Yet two other factors might play a larger role.

If you recall, heading into the pre-season, a story came out about how the Steelers were looking to reduce Najee’s workload. The thought was to reduce his workload to keep him healthier, so he’s around when they need him late in the season.

Looking at the drama of Matt Canada’s performance, it makes one wonder if Canada’s offense called for a reduction in Najees workload altogether. If that was Canada’s plan heading into the season, it might have backfired and, in a significant way, led to the Steelers losing games they should have won. When you include the stats from 2021, it becomes clear that if the Steelers do not use Najee Harris, they will lose games.