Halicke: Harris' growth founded in much more than just angry runs

The Steelers are heading to the playoffs, thanks to some much needed help around the NFL on Sunday afternoon.

And, despite their flaws, they've punched their ticket for a reason. During the three-game winning streak that saved the season, Mason Rudolph isn't the only reason why they're now contending for their seventh Lombardi. The running game also became one of the more formidable units in the league during this stretch, with Najee Harris as catalyst.

I don't want to take anything away from Jaylen Warren. He's rightfully earned a sizable workload alongside Harris, giving the Steelers one of the more dangerous duos out of the backfield. After all, Harris and Warren combined for 1,819 rushing yards this season. This running game is as strong as it is because of both backs.

That being said, it's no accident that Harris is now the first running back in Steelers history to rush for 1,000 yards in the first three seasons of an NFL career. Harris eclipsed that mark with 126 yards in Saturday's 17-10 win over the Ravens. And, outside of Rudolph connecting with Diontae Johnson on a go-ahead 71-yard touchdown, Harris was the primary reason the offense moved the ball at all in the middle of a monsoon at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

Regardless of the numbers that were put up this season, Harris showed growth as a pure runner of the football. You just have to dig a little deeper to see how.

When the Steelers switched to predominantly running outside zone concepts in the running game last year, they did it with Harris in mind. First, Harris was a good zone runner coming out of Alabama. So, familiarity was going to be helpful. But, also consider the main point of outside zone runs, which is to try and create as many opportunities as possible to get Harris one-on-one in space with a defensive back.

When executed properly, this is what it looks like:

This is Zorro, which is a Kyle Shanahan staple and one of several ways to run outside zone (they ran a variation of the same play on Warren's touchdown against the Rams earlier this season). The primary attack point on any outside zone run is off tackle (here, the C-gap between Dan Moore and Connor Heyward). But, all outside zone runs are designed to come with a cutback lane up the middle. Usually, it's the A-gap on the play side, but it can be anywhere depending on how the offensive line blocks it. 

Here, Isaac Seumalo does a great job of getting outside leverage on the 3-technique and forcing him back inside to Mason Cole. This allows him to get to the second level and take out Devin Bush. Harris reads this perfectly, cuts back inside, avoids a diving tackle and gets his one-on-one with the safety (No. 6). Then, he takes him for a 15-yard ride with a wicked stiff arm.

Through the first 11 weeks of the season, Harris was averaging 4.31 yards per carry on zone runs and only 3.32 yards per carry in gap/man. That came as no surprise given Harris' familiarity and success with executing outside zone concepts. He knows how to read off-ball linebackers and make the correct decision more often than not, much like he did in this run against the Ravens earlier this season:

Harris manipulates Patrick Queen (No. 6) with a subtle fake to the cutback lane, then turns on the jets to go through the primary attack point. And, he gains a modest nine yards doing so.

After the Steelers fired Matt Canada, the offense shifted away from a predominant outside zone scheme to a more balanced attack that included much more gap/man concepts. And, Harris has reaped the benefit of this change. From the time Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan took over offensive coordinator and play calling duties through last week's win over Seattle (data from Saturday's win over Baltimore not yet available), Harris gained 232 yards on 49 carries in man/gap concepts, an average of 4.73 yards per carry. That's an improvement of 1.41 yards per carry. That's ... significant.

Could this be from better blocking up front? Sure, it could. The Steelers have blocked Power concepts very well down the stretch ...

... and it's no surprise that Harris averaged 5.36 yards per carry and had a massive 78.6% success rate running Power concepts during this stretch.

But, one gap/man concept that translates well for Harris' skill set is Duo, which has one main similarity with outside zone: Reading the play side off-ball linebacker. Remember the aforementioned run in which Harris read/manipulated Queen against the Ravens? Duo is similar in that the running back reads the linebacker and alters his attack point based on what gap the linebacker attacks/fills.

Take this touchdown run against the Seahawks as an example:

In Duo, the line's job is to create double teams up front and then work upfield to block the second-level defenders. Duo is always ran with the back running to the tight end side, so Harris takes the handoff and reads the play side linebacker, which is Bobby Wagner (No. 54) on this play. If Wagner fills the gap inside, Harris should bounce outside. If Wagner fills the gap to the outside, then Harris should attack inside.

Wagner sells more to the outside, especially after Pat Freiermuth misses the block on him, so Harris reads it and cuts back up inside. At that point, it's just Harris running like a man possessed. He breaks through Wagner's tackle, keeps his balance while taking on more contact and fights his way to put the ball on the chalk for the touchdown.

During the same stretch of six games, Harris has averaged 4.38 yards per carry and had a 58.3% success rate when running Duo concepts. Not quite as successful as Power concepts, but still very productive, especially considering that Harris has primarily been a better zone runner during his NFL career. And really, that's the biggest takeaway from the past several games. Harris has looked like a much better running back while running more gap/man schemes when he's predominantly been a better zone runner.

This is just one way to illustrate Harris' growth in three NFL seasons. There will still be some that consider him a first-round bust because he hasn't emerged as one of the NFL's leading rushers. But, think about this: Harris finished seventh in the NFL with 1,035 rushing yards this season, and he finished fourth with eight runs of 20-plus yards. He did all of that while sharing a substantial amount of the backfield's workload with Warren. Harris played 568 snaps this season while Warren played 519 snaps. That mark is a career low for Harris, who played 763 snaps in 2022 and 1,008 snaps as a rookie in 2021.

And, while most would consider the likes of Nick Chubb, Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey to be better running backs, Harris has more rushing yards than any of those three since he entered the league. Yes, all three of those backs have missed significant time due to injury. But, that goes to show that Harris has not only been available for his team, he's started every game possible since he was drafted in 2021. That matters for something.

In addition, Harris has shown his value beyond the Xs and Os. He told reporters after Saturday's win over the Ravens that instead of watching games that would decide the Steelers' playoff fate, he was going to watch and study film to try to improve. And, when Good Morning Football's Kyle Brandt awarded Harris with the 'Angry Runs' scepter for his monster performance against the Seahawks, Harris opted to give credit to the offensive line and tight ends:

For those looking for an example of an offensive player upholding the "Steelers way," that's it.

Like him or not, Harris has grown as a runner in 2023. Even when Warren has done just about everything humanly possibly to pry the No. 1 role from him, Harris got better as the season progressed. The Steelers will have to decide this offseason whether or not they should pick up Harris' fifth-year option. And, based off his first three seasons, it wouldn't surprise me if exercising that option was the easiest decision of the spring.