The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the New York Giants 26-18 on Monday night, and RB Najee Harris had himself another strong outing, going from “heating up” to “on fire” status after recording his third straight 100+ yard rushing performance against New York. Harris carried the ball 19 times for 114 yards (6.0 YPC) with a long of 26 yards on the game, along with chipping in three receptions for 17 yards through the air.
THE FILM ON NAJEE HARRIS
When you look back on Najee Harris’ performance against the Giants, you see a back playing fast and not thinking too much while running with a unique blend of burst and power. Check out two of Harris’ first few carries in the contest in the clip below, with the first run showing Harris taking the handoff from the shotgun and immediately cutting to his right when he sees the hole open, getting upfield into the second level before getting tripped up from behind. On the second play, watch as Harris takes the handoff and gets to the corner after WR Van Jefferson makes a nice block on the edge, spinning out of one tackle attempt and proceeds to chug forward as several Giants defenders work to bring him down.
That last play displayed the power Najee Harris was touted for coming out of Alabama. Still, he also showcased that quickness and movement style that is rare for backs, with his size profile at the next level, which made him so tantalizing to Pittsburgh. After going through spells of looking slow and sluggish as a runner the last couple of years, Harris is showing that burst and acceleration needed to be a feature back in the league, as you can see in the two plays below, making a quick lateral cut to get upfield in the first clip while managing to get to the corner in the second clip after running away from LB Bobby Okereke and nearly gets to the end zone before getting tripped up along the sideline.
Najee Harris wasn’t without his warts on Monday night. He had a few runs get stuffed in the backfield or behind the line of scrimmage, and he dropped this open pass in the flat that he easily could have turned upfield and would have been in position to make one defender miss to pick up first-down yardage.
Still, Najee Harris’ play is encouraging as his supposed “weaknesses” as a runner that have made him more of a committee back with Jaylen Warren the last two seasons are becoming less and less apparent as he is showing that he can operate well in all phases of the game. Check out this toss play to the right where Harris turns on the jets to get to the corner and proceeds to go airborne over CB Deonte Banks with the hurdle, sticking the landing and managing to accelerate up the field to pick up the first down before getting knocked out of bounds.
One subtle thing that was impressive about Najee Harris’ performance on Monday night was his ability to make a move when approaching the line of scrimmage and quickly shift to the side to get to an open running lane. There have been times in the past when Harris wouldn’t see the lane opening up and would run into the backs of his offensive linemen. Still, he continuously showed that lateral quickness to adjust and continue charging forward, as you can see in the clips below, making a lateral move and then churning his legs on contact to move the pile and pick up extra yards.
Najee Harris played only 38 offensive snaps against the Giants (56%) and hasn’t topped 59% of the snaps in his past three games, where he’s logged 100+ yards rushing in each contest. He was over 69% of the snaps in the two games before Pittsburgh’s three-game win streak, but both those games resulted in losses.
Najee Harris is playing his best football right now and looks fresh. He is still operating in a split backfield with Jaylen Warren, putting him well on pace for his fourth-consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season since coming into the league in 2021. For a guy that is in the final year of his contract, the on-field success couldn’t have come at a better time for Harris as he is a big reason why this offense has been successful the last three weeks as Pittsburgh heads into their bye week 6-2 and atop of the AFC North.
