Entering the 2023 season, expectations were rather high for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense, which looked rather good in the preseason and was coming off of a strong second half of the season in which the Steelers seemingly found their identity on that side of the football.
Then, the regular season started. Pittsburgh’s offense has largely fallen flat on its face.
In the first five weeks of the season, the offensive numbers are dreadful for Pittsburgh, which sits 27th or worse in all key offensive metrics, including points per game (15.8, 30th), yards per game (286.2, 30th), passing yards per game (187.8, 27th), and rushing yards per game (80.4, 30th).
Pittsburgh doesn’t even have a rushing touchdown yet, either.
But despite all the issues offensively, third-year running back Najee Harris isn’t asking for a do-over coming out of the bye week. Instead, he believes that the Steelers’ offense has learned from its mistakes and will use those lessons to shape the rest of the season, rather than hoping for a re-do after a reset.
“I wouldn’t say a do-over, I wouldn’t want to do over. I think that even our mistakes that we had is all good and it’s all learning,” Harris said to reporters Wednesday, according to video via Steelers.com. “I think that when we say a refresh [bye week], I don’t say as a refresh as in like we wanna start the season back over. It’s refresh as in like, we learned our mistakes, we got it.
“Every game’s not gonna be perfect, but we need to build off of that and start the second half of the season. So, I wouldn’t take back anything.”
Harris has truly emerged as a leader on the offense, regardless of captaincy or anything like that.
He says all the right things, has the right mindset, and is continuously leading by example with his work ethic and overall preparation.
It can be frustrating for not only him but the rest of the offense seeing all the mistakes and the struggles on that side of the football in the first five games of the season. But the bye week gave the Steelers a chance to sit back, see what’s been working and what hasn’t been working, make those corrections and move forward.
Each and every season is about growth and development, and the early-season struggles are part of that process. The second half of the season post-bye offers the Steelers an opportunity to learn from those mistakes, correct them in real time and move forward.
It might not be an overnight change for the Steelers going from one of the league’s worst offenses to an average one, but the talent certainly is there, and they are putting in the work to fix it. We’ll see what’s in store moving forward but make no mistake: the second half is no do-over for Harris and the Steelers.
