Najee Harris' Run Game

["BuzzNuter"]

I believe Najee is having trouble with the fact that he never sees daylight. At Alabama there were clearly holes where there were supposed to be. Here at Pittsburgh he's got to power his way all the time. There is no daylight.

When you watch the Colts, Taylor has holes. He gets to the line and he has not been contacted. He has speed and he can then accelerate. Dalvin Cook had the same situation against us.
Najee never has that luxury. Our OL is terrible. The only RB that could run behind our OL might be Henry. Christian Okoye might have been able to or that type of 260+ guy. Our OL can't open a hole.

[Ghost]

I agree with Oviedo & Buzznutter - this line is just awful and it's unfair to judge Harris this soon. Here's Fittipaldo's (post-gazette) report card on the o-line from yesterday:

Offensive line: The run blocking continues to be atrocious. Harris has earned a master’s degree this year in making something out of nothing, but he couldn’t even muster any of his magnificent 3-yard runs today because he was getting hit so often behind the line of scrimmage. Mike Tomlin wanted to eliminate negative runs this year, but they were back with a vengeance on Sunday. Add in the three sacks allowed, a holding penalty on Trai Turner that negated a long gain on a pass interference, and an illegal procedure penalty on Chukwuma Okorafor, and it was as bad a performance as this group has put forth in some time.

Grade: F

[Northern_Blitz]

I agree with Oviedo & Buzznutter - this line is just awful and it's unfair to judge Harris this soon. Here's Fittipaldo's (post-gazette) report card on the o-line from yesterday:

Offensive line: The run blocking continues to be atrocious. Harris has earned a master’s degree this year in making something out of nothing, but he couldn’t even muster any of his magnificent 3-yard runs today because he was getting hit so often behind the line of scrimmage. Mike Tomlin wanted to eliminate negative runs this year, but they were back with a vengeance on Sunday. Add in the three sacks allowed, a holding penalty on Trai Turner that negated a long gain on a pass interference, and an illegal procedure penalty on Chukwuma Okorafor, and it was as bad a performance as this group has put forth in some time.

Grade: F

I hope that the OL can get sorted out before we run Najee's wheels off.

[feltdizz]

I think its fair to judge Najee. As much as I like Najee it feels like he has regressed. It could be the rookie wall or all the hits he is taking but he seems a bit gun shy about running downhill.

Personally I think he takes way too many unnecessary hits on a 3 yard gain. Dude is strong but he doesn’t need to fight for a half yard on 3rd and 24. Just get down.

As far as the Taylor talk. Yes, they have a better OL than us but I watched Taylor make 2 Patriot defenders whiff in the hole when they had him dead/to-rights. He is a beast.

Najee can do that too but right now he is seeing ghost in the backfield. Its also his rookie year..

[crushedspirit]

Last thing you need is a young runner to start second guessing himself because the line in front is putrid.

[NorthCoast]

Some comparisons to ponder:

	% of Runs =<3 Yds	% of Runs > 5 Yds
NHarris	61%	29%
JTaylor	50%	40%
JConner	59%	30%
NChubb	51%	39%
AKamara	61%	33%
NFLAvg	54%	35%

So Conner is doing only slightly better with a far better OL. And Harris plays against divisional opponents all ranked in the top 10 in run defense (of course it helps when they play against PIT).

[whisper]

Najee is a better receiver, which will only get him more touches and wear him down even faster. I'll never understand Tomlin's obsession with the do-it-all multitool at RB as opposed to using multiple guys. I have to chalk it up to laziness. It requires zero thought to roll out the same guy on every play.

Yes, and it's the same thing about game planning and making adjustments in-game: too complicated to make in-game adjustments, it's easier to just keep the same plan going.

["BuzzNuter"]

How about fumbles per touch? I can't remember him fumbling and I think he has the most touches in the NFL. I'd say that is a positive indicator of his upside when he can get some blocking.

[Chucktownsteeler]

How about fumbles per touch? I can't remember him fumbling and I think he has the most touches in the NFL. I'd say that is a positive indicator of his upside when he can get some blocking.

Not to jinx him but he has not even come close to fumbling this year. Give the man some road graders and he will be just fine.

["BuzzNuter"]

An article just came out and it verifies Najee has no fumbles. I'm not superstitious.

[feltdizz]

Yes, and it's the same thing about game planning and making adjustments in-game: too complicated to make in-game adjustments, it's easier to just keep the same plan going.

These last few weeks its been a tale of 2 halves so adjustments are being made.

I also think its weird to view a bell cow over 2 RB’s as laziness. Is Vrabel lazy too
for using Henry so much?

[SteelerOfDeVille]

Not to jinx him but he has not even come close to fumbling this year. Give the man some road graders and he will be just fine.

i will hunt you down if this happens this weekend...

[Chucktownsteeler]

i will hunt you down if this happens this weekend...

10 cc's.

[hackjam]

If nothing else, the similarity of results when compared to Le'veon Bell's rookie year are striking. That OL was generally awful (that was the Fernando Velasco year and Munchak wasn't hired until 2014). Maaaybe they can turn it around (with the run game anyway) next year. Big difference there is you don't have Ben primed to go on to have the best couple years of his career so that complicates matters.

[hawaiiansteel]