Jaylen Warren's historic performance powers Steelers past Colts 34-22

Jaylen Warren's historic performance powers Steelers past Colts 34-22   

By Wilson Simons

    Jaylen Warren spent the first four weeks of the season being the best player on the Steelers’ offense without a single touchdown to show for it. On Sunday, he made up for lost time.

    Warren scored on an 80-yard catch and a 50-yard run, and the Steelers’ defense held Jonathan Taylor in check without Derrick Harmon in a 34-22 win over the Indianapolis Colts at Acrisure Stadium. Pittsburgh moves to 3-2.

    It didn’t start pretty. The Steelers went three-and-out on the opening drive, with Aaron Rodgers starting 3-for-3 for minus-5 yards, and the Colts drilled a 58-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. It was the second-longest field goal in Acrisure Stadium history.

    Warren answered on the very next play. Rodgers dumped a check-down to him, and Warren went 80 yards for his first touchdown of the season. It tied the franchise record for the longest touchdown catch by a running back, and it was the longest by any NFL running back since Austin Ekeler in 2019.

    The play also moved Rodgers past Peyton Manning into third place on the NFL’s all-time touchdown pass list. “Anytime you’re in a certain sentence, it’s Peyton, that definitely does mean a lot to me,” Rodgers said after the game.

    Then Rodgers got hot. He completed his first 11 passes, the last of them an out route to Pat Freiermuth for a touchdown that made it 14-6 early in the second quarter.

    The Colts kept hanging around, mostly on the leg of their kicker, who hit from 56 a few minutes after the 58-yarder. Indianapolis finally reached the end zone when tight end Tyler Warren lined up at fullback and plunged in on fourth-and-1, making it 14-13. That came only after the Steelers stuffed Taylor on back-to-back plays from the 1 and stopped a Daniel Jones tush push.

    That goal-line stand set the tone. The Colts kicked five field goals on the day and scored just one touchdown. Pittsburgh stopped Taylor twice more at the goal line in the third quarter, and Asante Samuel Jr. broke up a pass to Tyler Warren in the back corner of the end zone in the fourth. Without Harmon, everyone expected Taylor to run wild. Outside of a 24-yard screen and one 20-yard run, he never got going.

    Samuel was the best player on the field for Pittsburgh’s defense. He forced the first field goal with tight man coverage, broke up a third-down throw to Laquon Treadwell, made the end-zone breakup on Tyler Warren, and ended the game by leaping over Keenan Allen to knock away a fourth-and-15 pass.

    Chris Boswell, who’d missed three kicks in four weeks, drilled a 48-yarder down the middle in the rain to end the half, giving the Steelers a 17-13 lead. In the third, the Colts kicked another field goal after Pittsburgh stopped Taylor on three straight plays inside the 5. The Steelers answered with Warren’s second big play: a 50-yard touchdown run, making him the first player in Steelers history with an 80-yard touchdown catch and a 50-yard touchdown run.

    After another Colts field goal made it 24-19, then a 28-yarder early in the fourth, Rodgers went back to work. He rolled left to escape the rush and hit Germie Bernard on the sideline for 25 yards on third-and-2. Warren converted a fourth-and-2, and Rodgers found Freiermuth on a slant for a 17-yard touchdown, his second of the day, to make it 31-22.

    The defense closed it out. T.J. Watt, who went to the medical tent with an eye injury in the second quarter, came back to split a sack with Cam Heyward. Payton Wilson broke up a pass to Josh Downs on fourth-and-17. Boswell made a 54-yarder to push the lead to 12, and Samuel’s final breakup sealed it.

    It wasn’t perfect. Daylen Everette got beat on double moves at least three times, and against a better quarterback, this secondary gets diced. Kaden Wetjen had one good return and then probably his worst day as a Steeler, including a dropped kickoff. And Roman Wilson left with a finger injury, which is the last thing a receiver room already missing Michael Pittman Jr. needed.

    But Germie Bernard stepped up again, Freiermuth found the end zone twice, and Warren looked like a top-five running back in the NFL. Rodgers sounded like he agreed.

    “He is one of the slipperiest players I’ve ever been with,” Rodgers said. “The first guy rarely brings him down. He’s so dynamic with the ball in his hand, but I keep going back that he is one of the best teammates, and that’s why everybody loves him, wants to block hard for him. He’s a special guy. He leads by example. We just gotta keep giving him the rock.”

    Rodgers was quick to spread the credit around. “Pat had a great game,” he said. “Germie really stepped in and played really well. Very proud of Germ, the way he performed.”

    I predicted Steelers 26, Colts 20, with a Warren touchdown, a Roman Wilson touchdown and some T.J. Watt magic. I got the winner, and Warren delivered twice. I’ll take it.

    The Steelers head to Tampa Bay next Sunday.


Credit to CBS Sports for the quotes

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