Tag: Najee Harris

Najee Harris wins top ‘angry run’ of year over James Conner

Conner was a finalist for the “angriest run” of the season when he tossed Steelers cornerback Patrick Peterson with a mean stiff-arm.

Arizona Cardinals running back James Conner was a finalist for the top “angry run” of 2023. However, he did not win it. NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt awarded Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris the award and the scepter for the top “angry run” of the 2023 season for his stiff-arm against Seattle Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen.

Conner’s stiff-arm on Pittsburgh Steelers (and former Arizona Cardinals) cornerback Patrick Peterson was a finalist.

Even though Conner did not win the scepter, it was a memorable part of the season in one of only four wins. The Cardinals won that game against the Steelers, thanks in large part to Conner’s big game.

Conner finished 2023 with his first-ever 1,000-yard season.

He averaged a career-high 5.0 yards per carry and finished with 1,040 rushing yards despite missing four games.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Every NFL team’s rushing leader from the 2023 regular season

Here is every team’s leading rusher from the 2023 campaign

A Carolina Panther led the entire NFL in rushing this past season!

Oh, wait . . . our apologies . . .

A former Carolina Panther led the entire NFL in rushing this past season!  So, congratulations to Christian McCaffrey, who is also just days away from playing on the game’s biggest stage.

Now, as we continue to put a bow on the year, let’s look back at each team’s leading rusher from the 2023 regular season.

5th-year option for Steelers RB Najee Harris makes perfect sense now

Najee Harris could see a huge bump in his stats in an Arthur Smith offense.

One of the biggest salary decisions the Pittsburgh Steelers need to make this offseason is whether or not to use the fifth-year option on running back Najee Harris. Harris is headed into this fourth season in 2024, and the addition of new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith only helps Harris’ case to get the extra year.

Harris has topped 1,000 rushing yards in each of his first three seasons and has 4,135 yards of total offense and 28 total touchdowns. Those numbers might not have been enough to sway the Steelers front office with Jaylen Warren on the team, but with Smith on the staff and his run-heavy schemes, Harris is a perfect fit.

Smith was the Titans offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020, and Derrick Henry led the league in rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns in both seasons. They are also the only two seasons in which Henry has averaged more than five yards per carry.

Harris’ running style fits perfectly with what Smith wants to do, and while we don’t expect to see him take an exclusive role in the run game as long as Warren is there, Harris’ value is too high in this scheme not to take advantage of the fifth-year option.

As with all other first-round picks from the 2021 draft, the deadline for the Steelers to exercise the option on Harris is May 2.

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5 things the hiring of Arthur Smith could mean for the Steelers

The Steelers hired Arthur Smith to help make the offense more dynamic and effecient.

Now that we’ve had a few days to unpack everything that is the hiring of Arthur Smith as the Pittsburgh Steelers new offensive coordinator, we have some thoughts. Not all great but none all that terrible. Here are the five things we think the hiring of Smith could mean for the Steelers.

Steelers 2023 end of the season superlatives

Let’s hand out our awards for the Steelers at the end of the season.

The 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers season is in the books and so it is time for us to hand out our end-of-the-season superlatives. There were some exceptional performances this season but not enough to help the Steelers get their first playoff win since 2016.

Looking at the Steelers final PFF grades on offense

The Steelers offense struggled in 2023.

Pro Football Focus is one of those sites that put in a tremendous amount of work into creating player grades for every NFL player week after week and for the entire season. It’s a massive process and their player grades are completely polarizing among the NFL.

The Pittsburgh Steelers offense was underwhelming to say the least. Here’s how PFF broke down the grades for the Steelers offensive stars.

Steelers final 2024 stats – Offense

The Steelers defensive grades were dominated by its edge rushers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers offense struggled for much of the 2023 season. Why did it struggle? That is a point of debate but it’s safe to say it was a combination of factors that led to the problems. Here’s how the offensive stars finished.

Steelers HC Mike Tomlin hints at 5th-year option for RB Najee Harris

Najee Harris was the Steelers first-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have several big contract decisions to make this offseason. None will be bigger than the decision the front office has to make about whether or not to pick up the fifth-year option on running back Najee Harris.

Harris was the Steelers first-round pick in 2021 out of the University of Alabama. Through his first three seasons, Harris has 3,269 rushing yards, 866 receiving yards and 28 total touchdowns. Harris has topped 1,000 rushing yards every season.

During his final press conference of the season, head coach Mike Tomlin was asked about Harris and the fifth-year option and Tomlin didn’t have to say much for it to seem the team is leaning toward giving Harris the option.

“He’s been what we needed him to be,” Tomlin said. In 2023, Harris became part of a two-headed rushing attack with Jaylen Warren. Will the emergence of Warren hurt Harris’ leverage with the fifth-year option and a new contract?

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Ed Oliver throws heavy shade at the Steelers run game

Ed Oliver throws heavy shade at the Steelers run game

In the weeks leading up to the Pittsburgh Steelers playoff matchup against the Buffalo Bills, the Steelers had found their run game and this was a huge part of the team’s late-season success.

But on Monday against Buffalo, the run game ran into a wall on a cold day. The game was postponed from Sunday to Monday due to a huge winter storm that rolled in and when the teams could play, the playing field was much more level. Which was bad news for the Steelers. The one advantage they might have had would have been playing in a snow game to give the run game something of an edge.

Bills defensive lineman Ed Oliver heard this and decided to throw some shade at the Steelers offense when he talked after the Bills win..

“I heard they wanted to play yesterday [Sunday] in the blizzard because they thought they could run the ball,” Oliver said. “Then we give them even better conditions, and they still can’t run the ball.”

There’s no doubt the great equalizer for Pittsburgh might have been a snowy field. Clearly, the Bills took it personally that some thought Pittsburgh would be able to run the football on them and they shut it down.

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