Throughout the preseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers offense has striven to be a model of efficiency, and the results produced by the first team have shown three touchdown drives on three possessions over two games.

One player in particular took that approach to heart Saturday night in a 27-15 victory against the Buffalo Bills at Acrisure Stadium.

Jaylen Warren was on the field for two plays, and he touched the ball one time. The result of that play was a 62-yard touchdown run that provided the Steelers a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.

Not bad for a former undrafted free agent whose role in his second NFL season is to, again, give starter Najee Harris a breather while also serving as the team’s third-down back.

“There are some guys who just have a knack for making plays,” quarterback Kenny Pickett said, “and Jaylen is one of them.”

Warren continues to make the most of his opportunities. In the preseason opener at Tampa Bay, he reeled off a 10-yard run, juking and darting his way through the defense, and finished with 13 yards on three attempts. Harris, the third-year starter, had zero carries and just one touch in that game.

On Saturday, Harris carried twice for 6 yards before exiting the game, along with the rest of the starters, after two series. Although he’s not designated a starter, Warren got the same treatment and left the game the same time as Harris.

The way he has performed in the preseason, Warren has earned that type of respect.

“It’s kind of like thunder and lightning with him and Najee,” Pickett said. “They balance off each other. They both do great things. They do things differently. It’s a great combination to have in the backfield.”

Warren entered for the first time on the offense’s fifth play, a third-and-7 situation. He released out of the backfield and watched Pickett throw a 10-yard completion to Allen Robinson. Warren remained in the game for the next play, an outside zone run designed for him.

Left tackle Dan Moore, who teamed with left guard Isaac Seumalo to create the hole for Warren, described what he saw unfold.

“I felt like I was a little late off the ball, so I tried to drive the D-end as far out as I could,” he said. “I could just feel Jaylen run underneath me. I heard fans scream. I turn and look, and he’s popped 15 yards down the field. I see him hit the sidelines, he breaks a tackle and that’s when I know, ‘Damn, he’s gone.’

“Talk about exciting and electrifying. First drive, at home, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

The 62-yard jaunt doubled Warren’s longest run of his rookie season. Not that the 5-foot-8, 215-pound back did anything special on his touchdown.

“I was just reading my blocks,” he said. “Everybody got on their guy, which made it easy on my part.”

While Moore and Seumalo did their jobs at the point of attack, wide receiver Diontae Johnson kept a cornerback bottled up along the sideline, allowing Warren to breeze past.

A perfectly orchestrated play.

“It was the epitome of it,” Warren said. “That’s clinic tape right there. You put that play up to show what happens when everybody does their jobs and executes it.”

Warren claims he ran untouched to the end zone, although Bills safety Jordan Poyer did appear to get a piece of the running back’s shoe when he made a diving ankle tackle attempt. To no avail.

For a team that struggled to score points, particularly early in games last season, what transpired in the first quarter that past two games was an encouraging sign.

“I’m not surprised by that because we put in the work,” Warren said. “We trust ourselves, and the outcome was what we expected.”

The first-team offense is expected to play longer Thursday night in the preseason finale at Atlanta. Coach Mike Tomlin, in fact, said his starters saw such little playing time against Buffalo because of the game awaiting in five days.

Warren, though, has no illusions his role will change, that he will usurp Harris atop the depth chart. And he’s fine with that.

“Our offense has been clicking,” he said, “so whatever they think my role in the offense is, I’m going to stick with that.”

Warren was a featured running back in 2021 at Oklahoma State when he averaged 18 carries per game and finished with 1,216 yards and 11 touchdowns. He averaged 4.8 yards per carry.

As a rookie, he reached double digits in carries twice in 16 games.

“I’ve never done that in an NFL game,” Warren said when asked if he could be a 25-carry runner. “I’ve done it in college. I’ve never done it, so I can’t answer that, but I have confidence I can do it.”

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