The NFL Players Association has been campaigning this month to get team owners to change the synthetic-turf playing surfaces in the league to natural grass, citing injury studies and player preference.
But Pittsburgh running back Najee Harris is looking forward to playing indoors on turf on Monday night, when the Steelers visit the Indianapolis Colts. The former Alabama standout said it reminds him of playing at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta with the Crimson Tide.
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“I like playing on turf better, me personally, just because in Alabama we always caught the Mercedes-Benz because we played there a lot with the championship game, obviously, and all that, so we’ll call that a home game for us,” Harris said. “We loved playing there. For me to play in another indoor stadium takes me back to college where I just liked playing indoors.
“That’s just me personally. I know other people on the team don’t like it. They get mad if we’re practicing inside because of the turf and stuff. They don’t like it.”
During Harris’ Alabama career, the Tide played in Atlanta five times.
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In the NFL, half the teams play their home games on turf and half play their home games on grass. In their 11th game of the season, the Steelers will play on turf for the third time in 2022 on Monday night.
Harris and the Steelers will hit the turf at Lucas Oil Stadium carrying momentum found during the team’s bye week.
After posting a Pittsburgh rookie record of 1,200 rushing yards last season, Harris had 361 yards and one touchdown on 108 carries in the first eight games of 2022.
In the Steelers’ two games since the bye, Harris has rushed for 189 yards and two touchdowns on 40 carries.
“It’s just something we focused on coming from the bye week,” Harris said. “We took that – I, us, all of us – took that week in consideration and really focused on that because that was a big emphasis that we kind of focused on, so I think all of us took that to heart. We’re still obviously getting better at it. … We’re going in the right direction.”
The Steelers and Colts square off at 7:15 p.m. CST Monday.
Pittsburgh hasn’t had a losing season since 2003, but the Steelers enter Monday night’s game with a 3-7 mark.
Indianapolis already has fired coach Frank Reich and replaced him with former Colts center and ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday. But with one victory in the past five games, Indianapolis’ season is slipping away as the Colts have dropped to 4-6-1.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.