Najee Harris takes blame for critical turnover, but Steelers defend dependable running back

Three days after he dropped a toss from Russell Wilson for a critical turnover against the Philadelphia Eagles, Najee Harris was stunned to find out that he wasn’t the one charged with a fumble.

“I wasn’t?” Harris asked Wednesday, turning toward Steelers communications manager Michael Bertsch for confirmation. “That’s crazy.”

The Pittsburgh Steelers running back stretched out the last word for emphasis, smiling and shaking his head in disbelief. As rare as it is for Harris to fumble — he has only five in 1,237 career touches — he was ready to accept responsibility for taking his eyes off the ball on first-and-10 at the Eagles’ 26 in the third quarter of the 27-13 loss Sunday.

Eagles come up with the fumbled pitch

????: #PITvsPHI on FOX
????: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/545A1QD1rN

— NFL (@NFL) December 15, 2024

Harris doesn’t want to dwell too much on the turnover, however, hoping to respond to his worst game of the season with one of his best. The Eagles held Harris to 14 yards on six carries and one reception for 7 yards, the lowest offensive output of his four-year NFL career.

“You’re always going to be your biggest critic, no matter what anybody says,” Harris said. “Though the stat sheet might say that (he didn’t fumble), nobody believes that. That was all on me. I don’t know why they that put that on Russ, but that was all on me. Just doing better next time is the best thing you can do, but being hard on yourself, don’t do too much. It already happened. Beating yourself up isn’t going to do anything. You’re going to mess up. The next play is what matters.”

.@KevinGormanPGH told Najee Harris he wasn’t credited with the fumble vs. Philly, and the RB was shocked.

“I wasn’t? That’s craaaaazy.”

It went down in the play-by-play as an aborted snap/fumble on Russell Wilson. pic.twitter.com/lGTBX31oPq

— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) December 18, 2024

The Steelers (10-4) are counting on Harris to revive their running game Saturday with a chance to clinch the AFC North Division title at the Baltimore Ravens (9-5). It marks their second consecutive game against one of the NFL’s top rushing attacks, as the Eagles lead the league in rushing yards at 186.2 yards per game and the Ravens (178.4) rank second.

With 891 yards on 229 carries, Harris is 109 yards shy of his fourth consecutive 1,000-yard season with three games remaining in the regular season. But after ripping off three straight 100-yard games against the Las Vegas Raiders, New York Jets and New York Giants, he hasn’t cracked the century mark in his past six games.

“It’s just running the ball,” Harris said. “Not every play is going to be a home run. Not every play is going to be positive gains. But you’ve got to stick with it until one pops, just take what they give you.”

Although the Steelers rank 10th in rushing yards per game (126.6), they are one of the league’s most inefficient rushing attacks, as their 3.9 yards per attempt average is tied for next-to-last. Harris’ 4.32 rushing efficiency ranks in the bottom 10, per NextGen Stats, which helps explain why the Steelers offense is getting off to slow starts.

Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, however, took exception to the suggestion that their running game is struggling, even after the Steelers rushed for a season-low 56 yards at Philadelphia.

“If I look at it objectively, it’s all really people’s perception,” Smith said. “We’re towards the top of the league in rushing. Sometimes it’s not as efficient as you want, but I think the biggest thing, if you watched us closely, it’s really all the way around. We’ve got to do a better job …”

Smith then raised eyebrows when he compared the Steelers’ run game to a well-oiled machine.

Well, not exactly.

“We’re like an old pickup truck. We’ll run well. We’re pretty damn good, and the longer you get the thing in drive, sometimes it just takes a little while to crank the engine,” Smith said, noting that he’s not a mechanic. “We’ve got to get some jumper cables or whatever we got to do. … We’re like an old pickup truck sometimes where we just plod along and then we get going and we have some really good drives and play some explosive football.”

Smith isn’t ready to give Harris a jump with the cables, even if his self-inflicted mistake served as a shock to the system. Harris hasn’t officially lost a fumble since Week 15 of the 2023 season in a 30-13 loss at the Indianapolis Colts. This turnover occurred with the Steelers trailing the Eagles, 20-13, with a chance to score a tying touchdown.

“Those are routine plays, but it doesn’t change my confidence in Naj. He’s a very dependable player,” Smith said. “Nobody wants to screw up. It happens. And, obviously, at that point in the game, they’re all critical. But when you’re in a limited possession game, it gets magnified. …

“But I’ve got all the confidence in the world in Naj. If something continues to happen and you repeat the same mistakes, that’s a different matter. But everybody’s going to make mistakes. If you sit there and try to bury somebody over it, that’s not good leadership either.”

Wilson, who officially was charged with the fumble, not only emphatically defended Harris but credited him with being a sparkplug to the success of the Steelers’ offense and predicted a strong rebound performance.

“The best thing about Naj is he loves football, he loves this team. He’s going to give everything he has every day,” Wilson said. “He’s been remarkable this season. He’s been spectacular running the football. He’s done some special things for us. We wouldn’t be where we are without Naj, to be honest with you. He’s done a great job: his physicality, his toughness, his grit, his love for the game, his passion, his energy, his focus, his stability, in terms of how he’s done a great job.

“Stuff happens in the game. It wasn’t that one play. It’s a collection of plays that we think that we could’ve capitalized on. I know that he would do anything to not have that one. But the best thing is that we’ve got another opportunity to play. He’s going to shine. He’s going to do his thing, and I can’t wait to see how special he is come Saturday.”