Getty Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris.
For the 10th time in as many games, an opponent outgained the Pittsburgh Steelers during Week 11. That fact, along with Pittsburgh’s offensive struggles, is apparently causing the patience of running back Najee Harris to grow thin.
That thin patience boiled over when Harris spoke to the media following the 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns on November 19.
“I want to say what I really want to say, but it’s difficult,” Harris told reporters, via The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo.
“There is a lot of stuff that goes around that you guys don’t see. I’m at a point where I’m just tired of this s***.”
Harris didn’t call it a team meeting, but he added that at least the offensive players will have a discussion together about it.
“We’re going to have a talk as a team,” Harris said, via TribLive.com’s Joe Rutter . “That’s the best way to say it.
“All of us, offensively I think.”
Najee Harris: “There is a lot of stuff that goes around that you guys don’t see. I’m just at a point where I’m tired of the shit.”
Steelers Fall to 6-4 After Loss to Browns
The Steelers came into the Week 11 showdown with the Browns a perfect 6-0 in one-possession games. But other statistics didn’t paint the Steelers in such a positive light.
Before Week 11, Pittsburgh held a minus-26 point differential, which was, by far, the worst of any team in a playoff spot. The Steelers had also been outgained in every game.
The Browns only had 10 more yards than the Steelers in Week 11, but that essentially made the difference in the score. Cleveland passed Pittsburgh in total yardage on its game-winning field-goal drive in the final minute of the fourth quarter.
Harris argued to reporters that one could look at Pittsburgh’s first 10 games in two very different ways.
“You can do one of two things. You can look at the record and say, ‘Ok, we’re still good right now or you can look at the record and say if we keep playing this football, how long is that s*** going to last,'” said Harris.
“I look at it like how long is that s*** going to last.”
Harris was correct that it didn’t last against the Browns. The Steelers amassed just 249 yards of offense, failing to reach 300 yards for the sixth time this season.
On defense, the Steelers held an opponent to under 300 yards for the first time this season. But that still wasn’t enough to beat the Browns.
Steelers’ Questionable Offensive Game Plan Against Browns
It’s unclear what exactly Harris is tied of. But one thing that could have stuck out to him after the Week 11 loss was offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s apparently stubbornness to continue calling passes instead of runs against the Browns defense.
Harris and Jaylen Warren combined for 164 rushing yards with Warren accumulating 129 of them on his own. They did that on only 21 carries.
Meanwhile, quarterback Kenny Pickett severely struggled, completing just 15 of 28 passes for 106 yards.
Warren accounted for 145 of Pittsburgh’s 249 yards. Yet, Warren had just 1 touch on the team’s final eight offensive plays.
With the ball at the Cleveland 40-yard line, 5:06 left in the fourth quarter and the game tied, the Steelers were unable to move into field-goal range to take the lead.
That situation may have been a time Harris would have preferred Canada to call more running plays.
It’ll be interesting to see if Harris reveals what’s really bothering him and if the Steelers do talk as an offense this upcoming week.