PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Najee Harris a full participant in practice Friday and ready for Sunday's Home Opener against the Patriots. A clue to how he may be used came from the Steelers offensive coordinator this week.
"We're going to make the right decisions to protect him from himself at times," Canada said.
So as much as Harris may want to play and be out there every snap, the team is going to limit him. It's not just because he spent most of camp on the sidelines due to a Lisfranc injury and suffered a foot injury late against Cincinnati. But after playing an always physical New England team, they will play again Thursday night in Cleveland.
"I just want Najee to be healthy," Canada said. "Obviously he's a big part of our offense, we want him here all season and we're going to make the right decisions to protect him from himself at times."
"We're going to try to manage Najee to have him be as strong as he is today at the end of the season when we need it."
Jaylen love
Maybe the most popular player in the Steelers locker room when it comes to interview requests, Jaylen Warren is receiving the type of love usually reserved for back-up quarterbacks. Warren only rushed for seven yards Sunday, but his blocking really opened some eyes.
"Talk about being in deep water with the big sharks," Canada said. "I thought he jumped in and played really well in the situation we were in. You're playing the conference champions at home in an overtime game, Najee's been out and he's playing."
"I thought none of us were perfect, obviously, but as far as stepping in and being what we needed at that time, I think he did a great job."
Throw it there
Canada asked what can the Steelers do to use the middle of the field more?
"Throw it there," Canada said with a grin. Then he started breaking down why, adding they were fortunate to win with a number of offensive mistakes against Cincinnati.
"All the things we can talk about, but we all know what it is," Canada said. "We have to be better on third down. We were 4 out of 15 on third down, out of those, nine were five yards or less. That's what you want. We have to execute better there."
"Two of those were caught short of the line to gain. Two of those we took a shot we didn't quite get. Two of those we had communication issues. We have to be better on third down. A lot more plays would have occurred if we had been better on third down."
The second-year coordinator said they did take a few shots downfield, barely missing Chase Claypool and Miles Boykin deep and said there was miscommunication with George Pickens.
"We've got to continue to be better," Canada said. "I've got to be better. I think we'll continue to have those chances, and if we hit those, it's a different feel and different day."
"Again, we have to make those plays, we have to execute better, so I'm not hiding from that. We have to just be better.
It's a combination of all of them. We've got to run it better, more plays, more opportunities. Mitch has got to play his game and take what he feels is right at the time and we'll continue to support that and do that and put him in a position to make plays. That's what we've got to do."
NE D
Clearly not the team they once were when Tom Brady was quarterback, they are still one of the better defenses in the NFL.
"You look around the league and there's a lot of great defenses and it's hard to score and do things," Canada said. "Our guys are right there at the top and over the history of the last however many years you want to talk about, the Patriots are right there as far as great defense to do a lot, attack and move. So, they're still a tremendous challenge for us and will create a tremendous challenge for us."
