Jaylen Warren passes 100 rushing yards, teams with Najee Harris to surpass 200 in Steelers win

Jaylen Warren’s bank account already has taken quite the hit this season as the result of fines related to lowering his helmet. Enough that it is making him reconsider taking a keepsake from a momentous career landmark.

“I was thinking of keeping my jersey from my first 100-yard game in the NFL,” Warren said after the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 23-19 win against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. “But that’s also a lot of money to (pay). It’s a business decision, you know?”

The league makes players pay for game-worn jerseys they don’t return into circulation. So the soiled jersey Warren held in his hand after rushing for 100 yards on 15 carries Sunday might not end up framed on his wall or packed in a box. But hitting triple digits in rushing is a nice symbol of how far the Steelers run game has come.

Paced by a two-headed monster of Warren and Najee Harris (82 yards on 16 carries), the Steelers produced a season-best 205 rushing yards against the Packers, their second most for a game since a Le’Veon Bell-led attack amassed 240 yards during a blizzard in Buffalo in 2016.

Consider that they didn’t reach 205 yards for 2023 until Week 4.

“I know those guys are close,” center Mason Cole said of Warren and Harris. “They want the ball every time. They both want the ball, but they both keep running well.

“It’s a good 1-2 punch, and I think you see that kind of kick in as the season goes on.”

Sunday’s game featured eight runs of 10 or more yards (five from Warren, two from Harris and one on a scramble by quarterback Kenny Pickett). Harris’ team-best 24-yard run in the fourth quarter was his fifth carry of at least 20 yards this season. Entering Sunday, only three NFL running backs had more.

Najee Harris credits the Steelers offensive line for the turnaround in the running game the past 2 weeks pic.twitter.com/I1FTRtrc7R

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 12, 2023

“We kind of know our identity as a run team now,” Harris said, later adding, “The MVP is the O-line.”

The obvious aspect of the offensive line’s play the past two weeks has been the insertion of first-round pick Broderick Jones into the starting lineup at right tackle. The Steelers have set season-highs in rushing yards in consecutive games.

That pleases Jones, who was unimpressed with the 166 yards the Steelers produced on the ground in a Nov. 2 win against the Tennessee Titans in his debut in taking over for Chuks Okorafor.

“I know the group we’ve got up front and running backs we have behind us,” Jones said. “There’s no way we shouldn’t be able to get 200-plus every game.”

In the wake of Warren having 88 yards and Harris 69 against the Titans, the Steelers RB duo decided it needed a better on-field display of kudos for each other. So on Sunday, gone were the generic high-fives and in its place was a more choreographed air-guitar display.

“That was one of or focuses, too, throughout the week,” Warren said. “We were like, ‘We need to come up with a celebration,’ because we come out and do just the regular (handshake), and we need to have more fun with it.”

But will the good times continue? The Steelers’ next game is on the road against the team that entered Sunday with the NFL’s No. 1 defense, the Cleveland Browns. In the teams’ first meeting Sept. 18, the Steelers managed just 55 rushing yards on 21 carries.

Still, it seems as if the Steelers running game has found its footing over the eight weeks since.

“It feels that way. It really does,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “But keep watching. You know how it is. We face a really stout defense here coming up this week from what I hear.”

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