The Pittsburgh Steelers dropped to 3-2 and second in
the AFC North after another loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Falling short 20-17 in a sloppy Sunday Night Football matchup, Pittsburgh's struggles on offense continued. After focusing on starting the game off fast all week, Mike Tomlin and Arthur Smith's offense only scored three points in the first half. The Cowboys have one of the worst run defenses in the league and are completely depleted with injuries, but nonetheless, Pittsburgh's offense couldn't break 100 yards on the ground with Najee Harris and Justin Fields.
Through five games, Harris has yet to have a game with over 70 rushing yards. As running backs Jaylen Warren and Cordarrelle Patterson were both inactive Sunday night, Steeler Nation was expecting a massive game from Harris considering the matchup against Dallas. Despite the Cowboys missing their best two defensive linemen in Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence, Harris only rushed for 42 yards on 14 carries in the loss. Harris' longest rush of the night only came for six yards.
Harris' most explosive plays of the night came through the air, as the 2021 first-round draft pick caught two passes for 35 yards, which appallingly led the team in receiving. Neither the passing game nor the running game had any fluidity or command against Dallas, which led the offense to only 226 total yards. In last week's loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Harris had another horrible game of 19 rushing yards on 13 carries. Whether it's the coaching staff, the offensive line, or the absence of Warren and Patterson, there's plenty of blame to go around for the Steelers' lack of success running the football.
The Steelers' entire offensive philosophy and identity is supposed to dominate on the ground. Thus, the passing game through play-action is supposed to be the effective way of taking deep shots downfield. As Pro Football Talk hosts Mike Florio and Chris Simms discussed the Steelers' struggles, an interesting idea from Florio arose.
"We're 29 days away from the trade deadline," Florio reminded Simms. "Is there a running back out there on a team that is heading down the proverbial crapper, that maybe would have a running back that the Steelers could trade for? They need to be thinking about that. All due respect, they didn't pick up Najee Harris' option for a reason. He reminds me of Leroy Hoard. If he needs two yards, he'll get you three. If you need six yards, he'll get you three. For the Russell Wilson offense to work, they need a better back. Chuba Hubbard is one that somebody's popping into the document we share."
As the two briefly discuss possible trade candidates for Pittsburgh, Simms has another intriguing solution.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have a serious running back dilemma on their hands currently. Travis Etienne, who was drafted in 2021 along with Harris, has been Jacksonville's perennial running back for the past few seasons. Rushing for 11 touchdowns last year, Etienne was looking to become the franchise's long-term solution in the backfield. Jacksonville then drafted Tank Bigsby in the third round of 2023 looking to be a solid backup for Etienne. However, Bigsby has had a huge start to this season and could eventually replace Etienne.
"Does Jacksonville with Etienne and Bigsby, 'cause you've heard me say, Bigsby's better than Etienne, I know that," Simms told Florio. "There's some good physical runs, there's no doubt about it," he credited Harris. "But more times than not, I see runs where I go 'Oh, a really good running back in the NFL would've got twenty right there and he got six.' And that's an issue and they're a team that needs somebody that can supply some explosive plays for them."
So far, Etienne has 53 carries for 231 yards, two touchdowns, and two rushes longer than 20 yards. Meanwhile, Bigsby only has 34 carries, but has 273 yards, two scores, and four big rushes. Could the Steelers potentially reach out to Jacksonville to negotiate a trade for Etienne?
It's pretty unlikely that Tomlin would send off Harris considering the leadership he supposedly brings to the locker room. Harris does deserve credit in that aspect. As Florio and Simms mentioned, Harris' physicality greatly resembles what being a Steeler is all about. Harris doesn't like to make excuses, and he's clearly frustrated that he hasn't been able to produce for the offense.
Steelers' Rushing Issues Are Bigger Than Harris' Inabilities
Tomlin and the Steelers have struggled to put together a dominant rush attack for some time now. Blaming Harris and only Harris for their lack of success is unfair. The play-calling has been too conservative and predictable in Pittsburgh, and it was the same under Matt Canada. Do Warren and Patterson seemingly have that "burst" that Harris doesn't? Absolutely. Regardless, no running back is going to perform well in this Steelers offense that has just seemed broken for years under Tomlin. It wouldn't be surprising at all if Pittsburgh replaced Harris with a guy like Etienne and the offense looked the exact same.
