The Pittsburgh Steelers finally came to grips with the fact that Matt Canada was an awful play-caller midway through the 2023 season. He was fired and eventually permanently replaced by former Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Arthur Smith. It takes time for a unit to gel, especially when a new coordinator is thrown into the mix, but the group in 2024 hasn’t been much better than previous years at all. Concern should be at an all-time high, and it makes one wonder if the decision-making and planning on the offensive side of the ball is in the hands of Head Coach Mike Tomlin more so than anyone knows.
It was expected entering 2024 that the offense would have a dominant rushing attack led by the duo of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. Unfortunately, Warren has been hobbled with multiple injuries since the preseason and Harris hasn’t been very effective at all through five weeks. A brutal Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys saw Harris carry the ball 14 times for just 42 yards.
Harris is having the worst start to his career, averaging 3.3 yards per carry on 82 chances. There has to be some worry surrounding Harris, especially after Cordarrelle Patterson tore up the Indianapolis Colts’ defense in Week 4 before going out with an injury. The inconsistency and poor running game can absolutely be tied to Harris’ bad performances, but there’s a different glaring issue that fans need to hope gets resolved quickly.
Warren has proven to be a difference-maker for the Steelers’ offense, averaging 5.1 yards per rush throughout his career. It’s clear that he is the better ball-carrier, and his injury has caused the unit to get off to a slow start when it comes to effectively running the football in 2024. Harris has actually been the team’s worst running back through five weeks of the regular season.
Pittsburgh doesn’t have many options currently with the number two and three on the depth chart injured, but the Cowboys’ defense did not seem to fear Harris at all. His three yards per carry on a prime time game at home was rather embarrassing. The offensive line is beat up, but few would argue that Warren wouldn’t have had a better stat line if he received 14 carries.
Harris had a couple runs that only required a yard or two, but that’s no excuse for the poor overall play throughout the season. The most concerning number has to be how few of yards he is averaging each time he gets the ball. Warren, as a guy with a strong track record of getting yards after contact, needs to heal up quickly, and Tomlin should seriously consider naming him the top running back on the offense.
Smith’s offense was supposed to be dynamic and creative, but a lot of it has been a poor running game, play-action passing here and there, and inconsistency all over the place. The big men up front need to do a better job, but Patterson was fine in Indianapolis while Harris wasn’t. The signs point to the 2021 first-round pick not really being worth much at all, as he had 27 rush attempts for just 61 yards in Weeks 4 and 5 combined. That’s an abysmal 2.26 yards per carry.
Steelers’ Najee Harris Proving Organization Was Right To Decline Fifth-Year Option
Much was made about Pittsburgh not electing to pick up Harris’ fifth-year option for 2025. It is now starting to look like a great move, despite the number sitting under $7 million. He will have over 1,000 career carries in just four years as long as he remains healthy in 2024, and he already looks like he has slowed down from year to year. Warren should be the back of the future, but he also needs to get healthy rapidly, or the offense could be in some serious trouble.
