PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s what Justin Fields said with a smile about Najee Harris rushing for 106 yards and a touchdown after the Steelers 32-13 win over the Raiders Sunday night.
“Najee, I don’t know what he ate last night,” Fields said. “I don’t know what he did. He sure did ball out today. Whatever he did this week, hopefully does the same thing next week.”
I mean it was Las Vegas so duplicating whatever happened in Vegas may not be permitted, even a meal.
“It was awesome,” said tight end Pat Freiermuth. “He works his ass off every single day. Comes in the building every day with a smile on his face ready to work. Seeing it pay off in this game, we really leaned on him. Really happy for him.”
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Harris doesn’t want this to be considered a one-off. The fourth-year tailback said this type of performance is what he strives for every week. He said you saw him make bigger plays on Sunday because everyone did their job. At Alabama he made a number of athletic plays, it just hasn’t meshed here, because they haven’t all clicked together.
“How the offensive line, receivers, tight ends came together and realized for us to be efficient in the run game it takes all of us,” Harris said. “I do what I do, but I can only do so much. It’s a team sport. For the big plays to happen. For the splash plays that everyone wants to see, everybody says they want to see more, it takes all of 11 of us.”
He then singled out how he was helped by downfield blocking. How all players finished their blocks and strained through plays. Harris said they understood that all need to pitch in.
“You look around the league, those are what sparks big runs or how big runs happen,” Harris said. “That is something that showed today.”
While he had several noticeable runs-13 yards on the second play of the game, 26 yards to open a series which ended in the highlight that gave them a two-score lead. It’s second-and-five at the Vegas 36, Harris got the handoff immediately cut left to the outside. The blocks were sustained and then a seal by Freiermuth on the end allowed him to take off down the sideline and leap into the end zone with the ball crossing the goal line as he landed.
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“His legs were churning, was just trying to get him more yards,” Freiermuth said. “That’s kind of the mentality (offensive coordinator) Art (Smith) has brought to our offense is we are always going to get the extra yards for our brother.”
Harris said the goal is to always spark the offense. He tries to do that every game and what he wants is players to see his example and follow it. Meaning if they see Najee going the extra step, they will want to do the same thing. It hasn’t been as much about Harris when the running game doesn’t work, Najee said it’s about his teammates doing their jobs.
“There is a dirty part of everybody’s job,” Harris said. “For us it’s pass protection, for the receivers it’s getting in there and blocking. Sometimes you got to block a D-end. You are not sized up well, but you just getting something on him creates a bigger play.”
“I think that when we go on film and see that, that’s going to be something to build upon.”
“You love to see stuff like that when he is pounding,” said Steelers tackle Dan Moore. “Guys are finishing over the pile. Those are the things we strive for specifically as an offensive line and an offensive unit.”
“I just thought it was a collective effort, not only the bigs but the perimeter people,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “And obviously Naj and everyone else. But I just thought anytime you have a run output like that it's not an individual, it is a collective.”
Sunday was 42 yards more than they’ve rushed for in any game this season. They also got 59 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns from QB Justin Fields. That not only helped the Steelers score a season-high 32 points, but also helped out their defense.
“Anytime you can run the ball in the National Football League it is demoralizing to a defense,” said TJ Watt. “We know from experience. It also allows us to get a little bit more wind on the sidelines to be able to come out. We always say the best defense spends a lot of time on the bench. When we are ripping off runs like that we are able to spend time on the bench.”
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Whatever Najee ate, it was a collective effort to get the Steelers run game going Sunday. We’ve seen it happen the last couple of seasons, but usually much later in the year. Could be they found their identity earlier? How will they build on this?