PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Steelers tailback Najee Harris believes the offense is turning the corner and it started before the Green Bay game. He’s coming off his first professional 100-yard rushing performance against the Broncos.
“What I’m really excited about is we are really molding together; finding out what type of team we are,” Harris said Friday. “We are seeing some of the stuff we got to work on. We don’t want to lose games. There are some things that losing teaches you that winning never can.”
“I’m not saying we have to lose. I look at a loss as a win sometimes because it’s a learning point as a team. A learning point of what we need to work on.”
“We really found out a lot about each other these last couple of weeks. I feel like we are on track to start changing stuff around. For me, all a learning point. Steps and bumps that we have to get over to start winning.”
You can count Harris’ losses in college on one hand. Three losses in one season in FBS might get you a bowl game in Charlotte. What he is learning is three losses in the NFL could make you a Super Bowl favorite.
“If you lose a game in college football, one game,” Harris said. “It means a lot about how the college playoffs set up will be for you. If you win a game by a certain amount of points. They didn’t win by these many points, so they have to go down in the rankings. In the NFL, you just try to win the game in general.”
“If you lose a game in the NFL, it’s important, but will it matter for the playoffs. Not really.”
Keeping forward
Harris said of the key for the offense to make sure they keep taking steps forward.
“A lot of repetition,” Harris said of practice. “A lot of us staying down-don’t read too much in the media of how good it was. Don’t think what you did was good enough. One game isn’t going to make it change overnight.”
Harris said they will keep practicing hard, learning and trying not to look too much in the media or news.
Cramping
Harris had to leave the Denver game late due to cramping. Another lesson learned is while drinking normally helps you avoid cramping, that’s not always the case.
“The cramping issue was on me,” Harris explained. “I think I had something to drink earlier in the week, some alcohol. I don’t really drink. That played a factor.”
“That was the only reason why. I usually don’t cramp. I did this week.”
Captain JuJu
A day after shoulder surgery that will likely end his season, receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was on the sidelines with his teammates at practice. That made quite an impression on the rookie.
“JuJu one of the most energetic, loves being at practice,” Harris said. “He’s embracing it. When you have a type of guy like that around you. It makes you strive to play better or harder for him.”
“I feel like JuJu is a captain here. It’s always good to see JuJu around.”
Bus stop
Harris confirmed he was able to meet Hall of Fame Steelers running back Jerome Bettis briefly this week. The rookie said he will watch film together in the future. Earlier this week, Bettis told 93.7 The Fan he believes Harris will be a better tailback than him.
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