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Najee Harris isn’t used to losing. And it’s wearing on him. The Alabama product spent four years winning two National Championships, losing just four games.
The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t used to losing, either. But they’ve won just two games as they attempt a rebuild, and it’s weighing on Harris — even during the bye week.
“To be honest, I went to L.A. for one day, and then I came back,” Harris told Heavy on Steelers in an exclusive interview. “I can’t stop thinking about the season and how much s*** we gotta work on. So, I came back [to Pittsburgh] and was just here.”
Harris’ second season has been off to a slow and frustrating start, no thanks to a Lisfranc injury that kept him out of offseason activities and all but one preseason game. A steel plate shoe insert, which limited his play, was removed in mid-October. He’s yet to top 75 yards rushing in any of his eight starts, and he has only one rushing touchdown to go along with his two receiving TDs.
Najee Harris said he was playing with a steel plate in his shoe because of the training camp foot injury. Just took it out a few days ago.
The feelings that come with not producing and not winning are something Harris knows he has to overcome.
“It’s really frustrating, but I think it’s ’cause I haven’t been around something like this in a good amount of years,” Harris said. “So just coming back to this, finding a lot of adversity, I gotta get over.”
“I catch myself trying to do too much. But it’s just out the state that we’re in; I’m just trying to get a spark for the offense.”
Najee Harris’ Rookie Mistake
When Najee Harris signed with the Steelers as a rookie in 2021, he made a mistake that isn’t all that uncommon. Pittsburgh’s Week 10 matchup with the Detroit Lions ended in a 16-16 tie, but Harris thought he still had a quarter to help his team to victory.
“I didn’t even know you could tie in the NFL,” Harris said after the game. “In my mind, I was sitting on the bench saying, ‘I’ve got another quarter to go.’ But someone came to me and said, ‘That’s it.’ I’ve never had a tie in my life before.”
Now Harris gets to help others through their rookie mistakes. He teamed up with Snickers, the official chocolate bar sponsor of the NFL, for the return of the brand’s “Rookie Mistake of the Year” campaign.
The campaign, launched in 2021, encourages fans to submit their rookie mistake (video, photo or written examples) on snickers.com/rookiemistake for a chance to be crowned Snickers Rookie Mistake of the Year.
Throughout the NFL regular season, Snickers will spotlight some of the best rookie mistake submissions, giving fans a chance to be featured across Snickers platforms and rewarded with signed merchandise and NFLshop.com gift cards.
At the end of the regular season, a panel of NFL experts will select one rookie mistake that will be crowned “Snickers Rookie Mistake of the Year.” The winner will receive two tickets to the 2023 Super Bowl in Arizona and a chance to celebrate on the field after the game.
To learn more about Snickers Rookie Mistake of the Year or submit your own rookie mistake, visit snickers.com/rookiemistake and follow along on social using the hashtag SNICKERSROOKIEMISTAKE.
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Steelers’ Najee Harris Reveals What He ‘Can’t Stop Thinking About’