Pittsburgh Steelers RB Najee Harris rushed for 100 yards on Sunday for the second game in a row. It marked just the second time in his career he has rushed for 100 yards in consecutive games. It took him until the last play with a breakout run for a touchdown, but it capped a strong day overall.
And perhaps he has Russell Wilson to thank for it, in part, because he impacted how defenses played the run. Against the Steelers, the New York Jets only stacked the box on 4.76 percent of rushing attempts by Najee Harris. Considering he has complained all season about facing loaded boxes, that is a change of pace.
That was the lowest stacked-box total of the week other than Tony Pollard, via ESPN’s Net Gen Stats. And Jaylen Warren also faced among the lowest rates of stacked boxes at 8.33, eighth fewest. Is it purely a coincidence that this marked the first game with Russell Wilson at quarterback?
Granted, the Steelers haven’t always and consistently dealt with stacked boxes. In Week 3, the Las Angeles Chargers only stacked the box with eight or more defenders against Najee Harris 5.56 percent of the time. The previous week, it was 29.41, though, and in Week 5 it was 42.86 percent.
Sunday’s stacked box percentage, however, was a new low for the season, and only the second time Harris faced stacked boxes under 10 percent of the time. For the season, he is now facing stacked boxes 17.09 percent of the time. That ranks roughly in the middle of the pack. Jaylen Warren doesn’t have enough touches to qualify for a season-long figure for the Steelers.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that defenses respect the passing prowess of Russell Wilson more than Justin Fields. And the Steelers started Fields for the first six games while Wilson recovered from a calf injury.
Now that Wilson is back healthy, that could be a boost for Najee Harris and the run game. Many worried that sitting Fields would have a negative effect because of Fields’ threat to run. But his unthreatening passing prowess allowed defenses to crowd the line of scrimmage with relative frequency.
Of course, we are only talking about one game with Russell Wilson and Najee Harris together. We will have to keep our eye on this number and how it develops in the ensuing weeks. But it wouldn’t surprise me if we continue to see low stacked-box percentages under 10.
That’s the benefit of having a prolific passing quarterback, one whom defenses have to respect. If they regularly put eight or nine defenders in the box, Russell Wilson knows how to throw over top. And he is great at play-action on top of that. That’s another way that Najee Harris benefits, and something that Fields did not do particularly well.
