Brook Ward
\nSteelers running back Jaylen Warren (30) is third in the NFL in totals yards from scrimmage.<\/p>\n
PITTSBURGH \u2013 Jaylen Warren\u2019s legs never stop moving. Which way they take the relentlessly upbeat Pittsburgh Steelers running back during a given play is a mystery, sometimes even to Warren himself.<\/p>\n
Take what looked like a give-up call during last Sunday\u2019s 27-6 victory over Cleveland that sent the Steelers into their bye week atop the AFC North at 6-2.<\/p>\n
Facing third-and-13 at the Pittsburgh 24 in the first quarter, Aaron Rodgers handed off to Warren on a play not necessarily designed to turn into a field flipper.<\/p>\n
It happened anyway.<\/p>\n
Warren darted to his right, then zigged and zagged, then zigged again for a 51-yard gain that set up Chris Boswell\u2019s field goal. A half-dozen Cleveland defenders had a shot at Warren during his longest run of what is quickly becoming the best season of his five-year career before the seventh finally brought him down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what it looks like,\u201d Warren said after tying a career high with 143 yards rushing, including a 1-yard touchdown run early in the second half that sealed Pittsburgh\u2019s fourth straight win. \u201cI don\u2019t know what I was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yeah he does: He\u2019s serving as the engine for an offense that is making up for in effectiveness what it might be lacking in electricity.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s put himself in all the conversations,\u201d Rodgers said of Warren. \u201cHe\u2019s playing incredible. To be able to call a trap on third-and-20, get a first down, is pretty wild. Don\u2019t expect that. Can\u2019t remember the last time that happened when I was out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of that going around when Warren is involved.<\/p>\n
He was an undrafted rookie in 2021 who made the team largely because of the joy he takes in pass protection. Warren ranks third in the NFL in yards from scrimmage, sandwiched between a pair of former first-rounders in Seattle wide receiver Jaxson Smith-Ngiba and Atlanta running back Bijan Robinson.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a bowling ball with teeth, man,\u201d Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt said with a laugh. \u201cYou can\u2019t get him down.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the field or off. Warren, who bounced from Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, to Utah State to Oklahoma State before landing with the Steelers, may be one of the most popular players on a team where the vibes at the moment are bordering on immaculate.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a great locker room guy,\u201d Watt said. \u201cVery selfless. But man, he loves football, and you can see it in the way that he plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
A way that has helped Pittsburgh\u2019s offense stay afloat despite having two of its top receivers, a quarterback who\u2019ll soon turn 43, and an offensive line where only one player \u2013 center Zach Frazier \u2013 is in the same spot he was a year ago.<\/p>\n
Warren\u2019s 5.9 yards per carry is tops in the league. His 11.8 yards per reception is ahead of wide receivers such as Cincinnati\u2019s Ja\u2019Marr Chase and Detroit\u2019s Amon-Ra St. Brown.<\/p>\n
When Warren gets the ball, good things tend to happen. And now it\u2019s starting to look as though he doesn\u2019t have to do it alone. Rico Dowdle, signed in the offseason to serve as the 1B to Warren\u2019s 1A, appears to be back at full speed after recovering from a toe injury. Dowdle has 191 total yards over the last three games, including his first touchdown of the season.<\/p>\n
In some places, that kind of production might lead to \u201cOK, who\u2019s really the top guy?\u201d speculation. That doesn\u2019t happen in Pittsburgh. Not with Warren, who spent the first three seasons of his career complementing former first-round pick Najee Harris before welcoming Kenny Gainwell in 2025 and Dowdle this season as equals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my brother,\u201d Warren said of Dowdle. \u201cSeeing him being successful makes all of us happy. That\u2019s what makes us great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Great might be a bit of a stretch, but that almost might be the best part. Pittsburgh is sitting atop one of the NFL\u2019s most competitive divisions without having played anywhere close to a complete game offensively.<\/p>\n
The Steelers are in the bottom half of the league in points and yards due in part to an inability to finish drives. Only half of Pittsburgh\u2019s trips to the red zone have ended with touchdowns, something it will have to improve on if it wants to win a second straight AFC North crown and have a shot at ending a playoff victory drought that is nearly a decade old.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to be better down there, absolutely,\u201d offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio said.<\/p>\n
Given the way Pittsburgh\u2019s defense is playing at the moment \u2013 the Steelers lead the NFL in sacks (25) and are third in points allowed \u2013 another touchdown or two during a given week could go a long way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d like to play our best and still win,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cWe also like to win, so \u2026 We\u2019re 6-2 going into the bye, first in the division. We\u2019re right where we want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, anyway. Warren\u2019s legs remain fresh as the stretch looms. How far they can help carry the Steelers, no one knows. Warren included.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brook Ward Steelers running back Jaylen Warren (30) is third in the NFL in totals yards from scrimmage.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1047279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":["post-1047278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-steelers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117568756983709401","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1047278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1047279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1047278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1047278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1047278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}