The Steelers have made no secret of their intentions to run the football more and more effectively in 2024, from the selection of three offensive linemen in the NFL Draft in the spring to the addition of run-oriented coordinator Arthur Smith this year.
But desiring to do something and seeing it come to fruition can often be two different things in the NFL.
Seven games into the NFL season, however, the Steelers' rushing attack has been all head coach Mike Tomlin could have hoped for as his team sits at 5-2 heading into Monday night's game at Acrisure Stadium against the New York Giants (2-5).
Thing is, the rushing attack might not be working in the way Tomlin and Smith envisioned when they put the finishing touches on their plans during training camp during the summer.
To date, the Steelers have started five different offensive line combinations in their first six games because of injuries to that unit, while running back Jaylen Warren, who rushed for nearly 800 yards last season, has dealt with hamstring and knee injuries that have limited his effectiveness and availability over the first seven games.
Add in the fact that Tomlin's chosen starting quarterback, Russell Wilson, just played in his first game in last Sunday night's 37-15 win over the Jets, and it's added a lot of fluidity to the Steelers' offense.
But one of the constants has been the availability and play of running back Najee Harris.
Harris is coming off of back-to-back 100-yard rushing games in wins over the Raiders and Jets and is the only running back in the NFL who has topped at least 70 yards from scrimmage in each of his team's games this season.
And how Harris has gotten there has been a little different. Trimmed down a little bit from his listed weight of 242 pounds this season, Harris has broken off chunk plays both as a runner and a receiver this season. His five rushes for 20 or more yards this season is tied for fourth-most in the NFL, while he also has produced two passing plays of 20 or more yards, giving him seven chunk plays in seven games.
But that doesn't happen without the other players on the field chipping in.
"We've got a collective of young guys who are growing and growing together, and I think cohesion is a component of it," Tomlin said Tuesday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "Continuity is a component of it. And so it's reasonable to expect those things to get better. Our collective of Pat (Freiermuth) and Darnell (Washington) at tight end is in its second year, some of our young offensive linemen have been around a little bit now. They've kind of grown up with with Najee, Dan Moore, for example, and so I think it's reasonable to expect cumulative effect to reveal itself in regards to some of that."
But considering some of the moving parts, particularly on the offensive line, it's even more impressive. The Steelers have had four different offensive linemen make their first career start this season. They've had nine different offensive linemen start games this season, including Ryan McCollum making just his second career start last Sunday against the Jets in place of injured rookie Zach Frazier.
Despite that, Harris is tied for eighth in the NFL with 478 rushing yards, one yard less than he had in his first seven games as a rookie when he rushed for a career-high 1,200 yards, while the Steelers are averaging 134.0 rushing yards per game, ninth-most in the NFL. The Steelers' 235 rushing attempts are just four behind league-leading Baltimore.
"I have got to give our guys a lot of credit week in and week out," said Tomlin. "We just assess what's available to us with our resources, whether it's manpower or what have you, and we formulate a plan that we think is workable, and those guys work the plan. And so those guys deserve a lot of the credit. Guys that we've been talking about like Ryan McCollum and others who are who are adapted and taking advantage of opportunities and living out their dreams."
With Wilson out nursing a calf injury, Fields provided some ancillary rushing to the Steelers' attack, running for 231 yards and five touchdowns.
But with Wilson in the lineup last week, the Steelers got 102 yards and a touchdown from Harris, 44 yards from Warren and three yards and a touchdown from Wilson in a 149-yard effort.
And if the running game performs as it did a year ago, things might only get better. The Steelers averaged 79.7 rushing yards per game over their first seven games in 2023, but 145.2 yards per game over their final 10 games as the weather got colder and defenses began to wear down.
One thing that isn't going to change is the Steelers' commitment to running the ball, regardless of who is available to them.
"I think that's just football. I think that anybody has a commitment to running the football is going to wage a war of attrition," Tomlin said. "That's what happens when I see, (Baltimore's) Derek Henry, break out late in games. Man, he's been beating on people for for hour and a half, two hours, the dam eventually breaks."
Wilson gets more kudos: Following Wilson's debut with the Steelers, a game in which he passed for 264 yards and two touchdowns with a rushing score, Tomlin said the 13-year-veteran was "outstanding."
After having a couple of days to assess the performance in its entirety, Tomlin was equally as effusive with his praise and what he saw.
"You know his poise. I thought his experience was really evident," Tomlin said of Wilson, who started the game just 2 of 8 for 19 yards. "He was unmoved and unshaken by the lack of fluidity at the start. But I think that's kind of reflective of a guy that's done it at a high level for over a decade, a guy that's a world champion, a guy that's (a 9-time) Pro Bowler. He's just seen a lot in this game, and that's in his back pocket, just like his deep-throwing abilities, and it gets you in and out of circumstances."
Wilson was particularly effective against the Jets utilizing play-action, where he completed 9-of-12 passes for 157 yards and a 119.7 passer rating.
The Steelers had been averaging less than 5 yards per attempt on play-action passes entering game, but Wilson averaged 13.1 yards per attempt against the Jets.
"Sometimes it's just not always him," said Tomlin "It might just be how the New York Jets chose to play defense. They play a lot of man-to-man. We lined up in some bunches and did some play-action passes, and like Calvin (Austin) came free late. And so sometimes it's not about us, to be quite honest with you, particularly if you're just talking about a small sample size, you can write a story on a collection of plays. But it's not necessarily reality. And I think anything in terms of analysis of Russ, regarding our play-pass relative to other games, the answers might just lie."
Tomlin, who declined to name a starting quarterback all of last week, was jokingly asked if Wilson will start against the Giants.
"He's scheduled to take first team reps when we begin tomorrow," Tomlin said with a smile. "We'll see where the week leads us."
Block party: The Steelers blocked their third kick in as many games when defensive lineman Dean Lowry got his hand on a Greg Zeurlein field goal attempt Sunday night.
It's not something which Tomlin takes for granted.
"It's not just an agenda for us. We try to live it," Tomlin said, crediting special teams coordinator Danny Smith. "We develop skills in that area. If you just look at the type of guys that have blocked kicks for us and in recent experience, you know makers of safety. Connor (Heyward) is a tight end. Dean is a defensive lineman. Miles Killebrew is a safety. They play various home positions, but they're all teamers.
"And that's the way we work to develop skill in that area, to not make any assumptions regarding who is capable of what, and to position ourselves to take advantage of opportunities. And I just can't say enough about Danny and that group and how they make that vision reality."
The Steelers had another block nullified by a penalty call for leveraging against safety Minkah Fitzpatrick on a PAT attempt. The Steelers disagreed with the call during the game, and Tomlin said he spoke with officials at the NFL offices in New York and they agreed with the team's assessment that Fitzpatrick didn't utilize an opposing player to leap over the line of scrimmage.
The Jets then utilized the penalty to set up a two-point conversion, which they made, to go ahead 15-6 at the time.
"They did tell me Minkah's block was legal, which I knew in stadium, but that's life," Tomlin said. "None of us are perfect. There's going to be mistakes made in game. There's strategic, strategic mistakes made by guys like me. There's playing mistakes made by players, and there's officiate mistakes.
"The bottom line is, if you're capable and you're on your job for 60 minutes, mistakes by others often doesn't define the outcome of games. But it is a shame, because that was a significant play by Mink, and it did create a two-point scenario for them."
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast
Injury update: The Steelers lost cornerback Donte Jackson and defensive lineman Montravius Adams in the game against the Jets due to shoulder and knee injuries, respectively.
Tomlin said Jackson's injury is not considered serious and he should be able to play Monday night against the Giants. Adams' injury, however, is a little more serious.
"He could be characterized as out as we sit here," Tomlin said. "I don't have a lot of details about the trajectory of what needs to transpire, or how long he may be out. I just know that he's out this week."
The Steelers could, however, see the return of some other players who have been missing recently in running back/kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson, safety Damontae Kazee and linebacker Tyler Matakevich, who has been on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.
Rookie wide receiver Roman Wilson was a late scratch last week after tweaking his hamstring in practice last Thursday. Wilson, a third-round draft pick, had been active for the first time this season the previous week against the Raiders after missing all of training camp because of an ankle injury. He logged five plays against Las Vegas.
"He missed some practice time because of the hammy, and as we've talked repeatedly in this setting, Roman needs to work for me to really consider him," Tomlin said. "His participation got compromised some last week. And so really, once it got compromised, I moved on."
Center Zach Frazier (ankle) and outside linebacker Nick Herbig (hamstring) aren't expected back this week.
