PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Through the first four games Najee Harris was punished by defenders. The rookie first round pick from Alabama averaged only 3.4 yards a carry. Compare that to 5.8 yards a carry his senior year at Alabama. For his college career, it was 6.0.
"Yeah, I thought he did great tonight," said Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. "But the running game is more than just one person. The line has to open things up and they did that."
"It was fun to watch him excel and take over, and I thought Benny [Snell] came in at the end of the game and ran the ball really hard. KB [Kalen Ballage], too. I'm happy for Najee, I really am."
Let's go to Roethlisberger's point about the offensive line. He wasn't the only one giving them love, and credit.
"All of us running backs can tell the difference about how much they are improving," Harris said. "This whole press conference should be more about them. They did an amazing job. I told them that every time we got on the sidelines, even in the game in how good they were doing."
There seemed to be a more visible push, Harris noted that post-game mentioning they communicated and performed better in double teams. The success came early as Harris rushed for a gain of six on the opening play. He added what seemed like modest gains of five, seven, six, four and six yards his next few touches before bursting through for 20 yards.
It may not seem like a lot, but when you are last in the league in rushing; it's significant.
"Experience," Harris said of what led to the improvement. "The more games we are playing. The more time that we get to build better relationships. The more times you guys criticize us. It's really making them really want to be better & do better. It showed today."
Harris brought up the criticism of the offensive line a few more times saying it motivates the group. He said coaches don't bring it up, but the players can't help but see all of what is said.
"Criticism that they've been taking this whole year," Harris said. "This whole off season. They come out and do that against a good team too. They overcame the odds & came out and played like that. I was smiling for them. It makes you want to play even better."
Cramps
Harris worried the game might go into overtime as he was dealing with cramps and a sore ankle on the sidelines at the end of the game. Harris said he's not used to the humidity in the East, noting this happened to him a lot at Alabama. He said he never had these issues growing up in California.
Tomlin on RB
"Just like I talked about on Wednesday, he's getting better every week, but I think that's a reasonable expectation," Tomlin said Sunday. "We are talking about a guy who has some talent, obviously, but who is getting acclimated to the professional game, the learning what the experience is what it is, he's a sharp guy and he's learning quickly. So, it's reasonable to expect him to continue to put together, increasingly better performances, particularly in the short term."
