By Ray Porter Jr. for Urban Media Today
PITTSBURGH, PA–RB Jaylen Warren had another big game, and QB Aaron Rodgers threw 3 TDs as the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Indianapolis Colts 34-22 in front of an Acrisure Stadium attendance 65,503.
“As we say in Pittsburgh, we redd it up, we redded it up. It’s a good start,” said Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy. “I think any time you win a game, and it comes off of a healthy week of preparation, you know, I think the newness of how you do things in year one, this was clearly our best week. I think taking Tuesday and then focusing on ourselves was the right call and Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Leading into it, it felt good coming into the game, but obviously it’s never perfect. There’s things that we’ll clean — continue to clean tomorrow and just keep it about ourselves.”
Warren finished with 101 yards on 15 carries, including a 50-yard TD and he also caught 5 passes for 87 yards, including an 80-yard TD to give the Steelers a lead that they would never relinquish all game. He has now rushed for 100 yards in 2 of the past 3 games. He rushed for 93 yards in the loss to Cleveland.
“I mean, he’s the man. He’s hauling it right now for us. There’s a number you like to continue to give him. He’s produced, so it’s been heavy,” said McCarthy “It will be great to get Rico [Dowdle] back this week too. I look for Rico to practice this week and hopefully be up for the game. He was close. Having them as a one-two punch was the vision of this offense, but Jaylen is crushing it right now. He’s been awesome for us.”
QB Aaron Rodgers finished passing for 267 yards (22/31) and 2 of his 3 TDs were to TE Pat Freiermuth (5 rec, 44) including a 17-yarder in the 4th quarter that helped seal the game. Rookie WR Germie Bernard also added 6 receptions for 80 yards as he stepped up as fellow WR Roman Wilson and Ben Skorownek left the game with injuries.
“Well, I think, like anything, when you teach conceptually in the offseason, and you have newness, you have injuries, and so forth, the way I believe the passing game should come together is discipline through time clocks,” said McCarthy. “So, I thought our time clocks were better today. I thought Aaron [Rodgers] did a great job of staying on time. I thought his pocket presence was excellent. His ability to move with his feet and make plays out of the pocket was exactly what we needed. I didn’t really move him a whole lot in the passing game, so I thought he did a really nice job in the A and B gaps, escapes, and things like that. I would say that; I thought our time clocks were better.”
The Steelers defense had its challenges against QB Daniel Jones (24/44, 267 yards) but they were able to hold the offense to only one TD and have them settle for five Spencer Shrader field goals, including a 58-yarder in the first quarter. DT Cam Heyward sacked Jones and the defense was able to force 2 turnovers of downs. They also held RB Jonathan Taylor, one of the NFL’s best top rushers, to only 45 yards on 15 carries.
“I think that’s the deciding thing in the game. I think being able to have multiple hats to the ball, surrender three instead of seven was huge for us, and our offense was scoring at a high rate. So, you put that together, and it definitely makes us a tougher opponent. We got to continue to keep doing that,” said DT Cam Heyward.
The win improved the Steelers to 3-2 and into a possible 4-way tie in the AFC North. They will now go on a 2-week road trip that begins against the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay followed by the NFL’s first game in Paris, France against the New Orleans Saints.
“Well, I think any time you have a chance to spend more time on self-improvement, you know, you hope it definitely shows up in the performance,” said McCarthy. “So, yeah, I’d like to think the fact we’re standing here with a win today is part of it, but that process is really ongoing. I just think having the ability to just say, hey, we’re going to take a four-hour block and just work on just self-scout and go into it deeper, I think there’s definitely benefits from it. It was great that we came out of this today with a win.”
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