The Alabama Crimson Tide offense averaged 541.6 yards per game, 7.81 yards per play and 48.5 points in 2020, all of which ranked first or second among power-conference teams. So, when asked about his new team’s new-look offense, it was probably a no-brainer for Steelers first-round pick Najee Harris to compare it to what made him a 1,000-yard rusher and 20-touchdown scorer the past two seasons.
The Steelers have the featured ball-carrier from those Alabama teams, and they apparently have some of the same schemes, but will they have championship-level success? That’s what they’ll try to achieve under first-year offensive coordinator and play-caller Matt Canada, who only came to the NFL from the college ranks one year before his freshly minted stud running back.
“There’s a lot of things that are similar,” Harris said Saturday after a rookie minicamp practice. “It’s just different terminology, but the same meaning at the end of the day.”
Alabama had the horses, no doubt, from Harris to first-round pick Mac Jones at quarterback to two top-10 picks Devonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle at receiver, and even a couple offensive linemen who were among the first 37 players drafted last month (plus a third who went early in the sixth round). But they also had an offensive system that got coordinator Steve Sarkisian a six-year, $34 million deal to be the head coach at Texas.
And while Canada has only run offenses in the college game, Sarkisian spent two years as Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator before going back to Alabama in 2019. His attack that worked so well for the Crimson Tide — again, executed by dominant individuals — incorporated plenty of pre-snap shifts, run-pass options and almost entirely operated out of the shotgun.
Don’t expect to be calling the Steelers quarterback Ben RPO-lisberger anytime soon, but Canada also is known for his motion concepts, creative misdirection and using elements of spread offenses while still focusing on running the ball. Steelers rookie tight end Pat Freiermuth called Canada’s offense “complex but simple in the same way,” which could just be code for I’m not supposed to divulge details that future opponents can study, but Harris echoed the simplicity aspect of what they’re learning so far.
“What they're doing in their offense really resembles a lot of what we did in terms of putting the players in the best position to make a play and not doing too much thinking — just fast playing,” Harris said of his time in Tuscaloosa. “It seems like they're trying to make everything as easy as possible so players can just play fast and use the best of their abilities.”
For Harris, that means indulging his desire to be a tailback by position but a dual-threat pass-catcher in reality. Much like Le’Veon Bell once said he considers himself both a running back and a receiver, Harris has been adamant since his college career that he, too, sees himself as a wideout.
“[One thing] that’s similar is probably how they’re going to, I guess, line me up out wide and stuff like that how I did in college — utilize the running back in the passing game out wide, in the slot, all the way out to the ‘X’ position,” Harris said, adding later that he’ll be used “everywhere.”
Of course, the Steelers already have several established playmakers who do the whole running-routes-and-snagging-passes thing full-time. On one hand, it’s a part of Harris’ game that helped make him the 24th overall pick, but it’s hard to imagine him spending too much time on the perimeter. That would mean the Steelers are using their empty formation a whole lot again, or rotating other rushers — Benny Snell? Anthony McFarland? Kalen Ballage? — into the backfield, neither of which sounds like a great way to improve their moribund running game.
It’s a safe bet that every offensive coordinator hired in the history of the NFL has claimed publicly that he wants his group to be balanced, multiple, versatile and all the other staples of coach-speak. More two-tight end sets, more spacing, more downhill running ... more everything. But if there’s any team that drastically needs to be more efficient on the ground, it’s the Steelers.
“We’re just beginning to work,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “We’re just beginning the team development process, just beginning the opportunity to have an opportunity to work with the men day-to-day on skills relative to that aspect of that play.”
Speaking of which, the 2020 Steelers were all too eager to go five-wide without even a threat of handing it off in many third/fourth-and-short situations. Outside of insisting that he’ll sit on the bench with a foam finger and cheer on the offense in those instances, Harris answered about as humbly as possible when asked if they might actually be able to grind out first downs and touchdowns the old-fashioned way.
“I’m not the coordinator, neither am I the head coach, neither am I the GM,” Harris said. “I don't worry about those things. I just worry about what I can control, and I can control what happens when I get the ball. If I’m put in short-yardage situations, I’ll make the most of it. I’ll do my best for the team and the organization. But I don't make the rules, man. We might do a play-action on third-and-1, and I’ve got to go with it. I can't say, ‘Give me the ball.’ I’m just trying to get my feet wet, man. I’m a rookie.”
Harris isn’t just any rookie, though. Time will tell if Canada wants to build around him, plug him into a predetermined role or something in between. Unless there are some revolutionary plays drawn up for Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph to be on the field at the same time for a two-quarterback design, there’s only so much any play-caller can do in this game, no matter how innovative.
But for an offense that had become too predictable at times, and too freelanced other times, a couple tweaks here and a few wrinkles there can make all the difference. Or at least that’s the hope.
“Just from the first install that we did, there’s a decent amount,” Freiermuth said of movement before the snap in Canada’s playbook. “I did not do a lot of pre-snap motion at Penn State. I would kind of motion in, depending on the look or something like that, but at Penn State we’d kind of get set and roll with the play we had. It’s going to take some adjusting to, but I felt good doing it.”
