Mike Tomlin wasn’t happy with the level of physicality that the Pittsburgh Steelers displayed in Week Four on the road against the Houston Texans.
Pittsburgh came out slow and seemingly unprepared, getting punched in the mouth quickly by the Texans and never quite recovering, losing a disappointing road matchup 30-6. After the game, Tomlin wasn’t thrilled with the offensive performance especially, promising changes. Those changes turned out to be padded practices and establishing a more physical presence again, rather than any personnel changes.
But for Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, he believes one personnel change will occur: more Najee Harris.
Appearing on PFT Live with co-host Chris Simms Thursday, Florio stated that he believes Tomlin is going to double down on Harris in the backfield due to the toughness he brings to the table, which sets the tone for the rest of the team.
“It occurred to me, I think one of the reasons Mike Tomlin is in the Najee Harris camp, even though Najee Harris doesn’t have the burst or the acceleration, he’s got the toughness,” Florio said to Simms, according to video via the NFL on NBC YouTube page. “He’s got the grit. He’s got the physicality that Tomlin wants the rest of the team to emulate.
“I think we’re going to see Tomlin insist on more Najee Harris. He was one of the only bright spots for the Steelers last week, 71 rushing yards. …Physicality from Najee Harris; we’re going to see a lot of it.”
Questions regarding the lack of burst and overall acceleration from Harris is certainly fair at this point in his career.
But the fact is, he’s the only one in the run game for the Steelers who has had an explosive run so far, registering four 20-plus yard runs this season, including a long of 23 last week against the Texans. He might not be the true home run hitter that teams covet in today’s game, but he’s an absolute hammer with the football in his hands, wearing defenders down.
He runs extremely hard, refuses to go down on first contact and consistently falls forward at the end of runs. Florio’s belief that we’ll see more of Harris this week, especially against the Ravens, is a logical one. After Tomlin called out the lack of physicality from his team, why not lean heavily into the guy who brings it every single carry?
The last time Harris played the Ravens, he had one of his best games of the 2022 season.
Wanting more physicality from your team, more consistency offensively and needing to help out your offensive line some, you need to lean on Najee Harris more. It won’t be surprising if that happens Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.
