INDIANAPOLIS – The Pittsburgh Steelers have a problem with Najee Harris. It’s not all about Harris, but after a performance that saw Harris gain 19 yards on just 13 carries, something has to give, right?

Now, Harris has fundamental concerns with this offense. A year after his offensive efficiency skyrocketed following Matt Canada’s shooting, Harris is less efficient than ever with Arthur Smith calling the plays.

He is averaging just 3.4 yards per carry through the first four games of the season. Harris has received the most first down carries for the Steelers this year, and no team averages fewer yards per carry on first down than the Steelers. In these runs, too, the Steelera are in last place in terms of success rate.

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This is, to some extent, the Harris problem. He is designed to be a workhorse in an offense that promotes that style. Smith wants to establish the run and make efficient gains over the course of a game. Still, Harris has a big part to play in ensuring that it’s not about maximizing profits. According to Next Gen Stats on Sunday, he had -32 rushing yards above expectations.

Some of this would lead people to believe that Harris is missing open holes, but that’s not the case. Of the 13 runs, Harris ran nine zone runs. Four were gap runs as Cordarrelle Patterson scored six runs in the game. Does it seem backwards in use?

The 1.80 meter tall, 110 kilogram running back should follow the pullers and go downhill. But Smith deviated from that with Harris, a strange usage decision. In terms of becoming a midrange and wide zone runner, Harris simply doesn’t have the downhill quickness nor the lateral quickness to maximize cutback runs.

The idea of ​​the stretch play dates back to Mike Shanahan’s days with Terrell Davis and was to stress a defense horizontally or force them to over-pursue and then limit them. Harris lacks the power to hit holes and time set points correctly in this scheme. It doesn’t suit him as a runner. Meanwhile, Patterson and Jaylen Warren hit the hole with explosiveness and get going right away. They are runners who can do their best in this scheme.

Then comes the point where the Steelers’ blocking gap increases horribly. In the first four weeks of the season, gap runs feature obvious free runners who immediately hit Harris, either due to poor blocks or missed assignments.

Smith has become predictable in some of his play calling and personnel usage. So the teams drop their guys in the box and ambush a safety, forcing the Steelers to lose the numbers game. Meanwhile, Smith continues to ask wide receivers who are subpar blockers to dig up key defenders as an insert block, and those defenders continue to suffocate Harris near the line of scrimmage.

Harris will always be a limited player due to his athletic limitations, but he is a durable, tough runner who can be efficient. He was there last season, so it’s already known that Harris can be a problem in the right spot.

But due to a poor plan and some strange personnel decisions that played to Harris’ weaknesses, Harris had a disappointing start to the season. There are a few things he can do to fix the problem, but it will mostly involve Smith optimizing usage and getting the other staff to perform at a higher level.