Najee Harris says Steelers played soft against Texans, coaches not to blame for offensive woes

Najee Harris didn’t mention Matt Canada by name, but the Pittsburgh Steelers running back seemed to throw some support behind the team’s embattled offensive coordinator Wednesday when he met with the media.

Harris said the Steelers played “soft” last Sunday in a 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans and indicated the team’s issues in that game had nothing to do with Canada’s play-calling.

Canada has come under further scrutiny for the Steelers’ slow start on offense. The Steelers’ offense has scored just four touchdowns in as many games and ranks near the bottom of the NFL in many statistical categories.

“We can’t just keep pointing fingers (at coaches),” Harris said. “We’ve got to point at ourselves. It’s the man in the mirror, really. This is the NFL. Everybody runs the same damn plays. Everyone disguises them differently. It’s how we play it. Honestly, I don’t think we’re playing with that edge right now.”

It was Harris’ first interview opportunity since he declined to speak after the game. He agreed with coach Mike Tomlin’s assessment that the Steelers lacked physicality in the loss to the Texans. The Steelers got off to another slow start offensively — they have not scored on their first or second drives of a game this season — and trailed 16-0 at halftime.

Harris appeared to inject life into the offense in the third quarter when he rushed for 55 yards on three series, which ended with a pair of field goals before a failed fourth-and-1 pass play. After that turnover on downs, the Texans scored the final 14 points to put the Steelers in a 24-point hole.

Harris told a teammate after the game that a meeting needed to be held before the Steelers began preparing to face the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. Speaking up, he said, goes against his nature.

“Me as a person who wants to spark offense, sometimes I don’t like saying it, I like showing it. I try to be that guy and show it. In that game, I wanted to emphasize that right now, we’re just playing soft. We’re not firing off. We’re not making plays,” he said.

“I’m trying to be the guy they’re feeding off. For this game, it’s a challenge to see who else is going to be that person. It just can’t keep being one person. It has to be more people.”

Harris became impassioned when he was asked whether coaches took part in the meeting.

“The coaches only coach,” he said. “End of the day, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do. I see everybody talk about this coaching stuff, about play-calling. … Coaches can only coach. We’ve got to execute the plays. We’re not trying to point the finger at all. This is not the time to do that. It keeps being a conversation brought up, things that are talked about so much.

“I can honestly say we’re not doing it. It’s not the coaches. It has nothing to do with coaches. We have to play better. We can’t just keep looking at the coaches as an outlet or whatever (the media) is putting out there. … It’s stupid.”

The Steelers rank No. 29 in the NFL in rushing yards, averaging 78 per game. In the second half of last season, the Steelers averaged more than 140 rushing yards and finished the year ranked No. 16 at 122 yards.

Harris has shared snaps with backup Jaylen Warren, and he has seen their playing time approach almost a 50-50 split this season. CBS cameras caught Harris on the sideline Sunday apparently arguing with coaches.

“Yeah, it is frustrating,” he said. “As a competitor, you could say that. I would say that. But in the bigger picture, I understand. I might argue with them a lot. … It may look like something else than it’s not. As a competitor, you feel you can do stuff for the team, and you want the ball a lot. Knowing the bigger picture, it’s a long season, we’ve got other guys. We’ve got to get things going. I understand why. It was me being a competitor.”

Harris added that this weekend is the perfect time for the Steelers to rediscover their physicality in the form of their running game. He pointed to last year’s Week 17 game in Baltimore when the Steelers rushed for 198 yards. He had 111 yards on 22 attempts, and Warren added 76 yards in a 16-13 victory.

“That mentality is where we need to be,” he said. “We did not play with that mentality last week, truthfully. I was frustrated with that, too. Just looking at film, our mentality as an offense wasn’t good at all. I know that. I think we all know that, and we all know we have to get better if we want to be where we want to be.

“We need to be mentally like we were last year against the Ravens, and this is a good time to do it. They always have a good defense. They always play us good. They always have a mentality that you’re not going to run against us. It’s going to be a physical game. I think we all know that. It’s a good time to get that back.”