Jaylen Warren Blasts Colts With 80-Yard Catch and 50-Yard Run as Steelers Deliver Offensive Hammer

By Tiffany Williams –

Jaylen Warren hit the Indianapolis Colts with two plays that turned ordinary field position into disaster. An 80-yard touchdown reception put Pittsburgh ahead in the first quarter, and a 50-yard touchdown run supplied another major blow in the third. The Steelers won at Acrisure Stadium behind a running back who punished Indianapolis through the air and on the ground.

Aaron Rodgers supplied the precision. He completed 22 of 31 passes for 235 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, finishing with a 125.1 passer rating. Pat Freiermuth caught two of those touchdown throws, giving Pittsburgh a reliable scoring target alongside Jaylen Warren’s explosive production.

The Colts received the opposite experience from their running game. Jonathan Taylor gained only 45 yards on 15 carries, while Indianapolis finished with 66 rushing yards on 24 attempts. Pittsburgh forced the visitors to work through a passing attack that completed barely more than half of its throws.

Daniel Jones went 24 of 44 for 257 yards, a completion rate of 54.5 percent. Those numbers show passing volume without matching efficiency. Indianapolis had to throw often while its ground attack averaged only 2.8 yards per attempt.

Jaylen Warren finished with 101 rushing yards on 15 carries and 87 receiving yards on five catches. His 188 yards from scrimmage included one rushing touchdown and one receiving touchdown. The two scoring plays alone covered 130 yards.

That is the central fact of this game. Pittsburgh had a back who could transform one snap into a touchdown from well outside scoring territory. Indianapolis had a rushing attack that repeatedly struggled to generate ordinary gains.

The Steelers’ notes establish the first major offensive strike with 8:45 remaining in the opening quarter. Aaron Rodgers connected with Jaylen Warren for an 80-yard touchdown pass, giving Pittsburgh a 7–3 lead. One completion had carried the offense most of the length of the field.

The distance matters because it changed the economics of the possession. Pittsburgh did not need a long series of successful snaps to reach the end zone. The Colts surrendered an entire scoring drive’s worth of yardage on one play.

Jaylen Warren’s 80-yard touchdown reception tied the longest by a Steelers running back in franchise history. Bill Dudley also caught an 80-yard touchdown against the Boston Yanks in October 1946. The play therefore belonged among the most explosive receiving scores ever produced by a Pittsburgh back.

The supplied notes also identify it as the longest touchdown catch by an NFL running back since Gus Edwards scored on an 80-yard reception for Baltimore in Week 7 of 2023. Jaylen Warren’s score was a substantial event beyond the immediate game situation. Indianapolis had been beaten by a play of uncommon length.

Aaron Rodgers followed with a short touchdown throw early in the second quarter. He found Pat Freiermuth from one yard out with 13:17 remaining, extending Pittsburgh’s lead to 14–6. The Steelers had scored through a back from long distance and through a tight end at the goal line.

That variety created a difficult defensive problem. Indianapolis had already allowed Jaylen Warren to produce an 80-yard score, and it then failed to stop Pat Freiermuth on a one-yard touchdown reception. Pittsburgh was converting opportunities at opposite ends of the field.

Pat Freiermuth finished with five catches for 44 yards and two touchdowns. The yardage total was modest compared with Jaylen Warren’s combined production, but the scoring value was enormous. Two of Pat Freiermuth’s five receptions went directly into the end zone.

Chris Boswell added a 48-yard field goal with 21 seconds remaining in the second quarter. The kick extended Pittsburgh’s advantage to 17–13. Indianapolis remained within four points, but the Steelers entered the closing seconds of the half with another completed scoring opportunity.

That margin shows why Pittsburgh’s later explosive run mattered so much. The Colts had remained close enough that one possession could change the lead. Jaylen Warren supplied the next major separation without requiring the Steelers to grind their way down the field.

With 7:06 remaining in the third quarter, Jaylen Warren scored on a 50-yard run. The touchdown gave Pittsburgh a 24–16 lead. Indianapolis had now surrendered an 80-yard receiving touchdown and a 50-yard rushing touchdown to the same player.

The combination was extraordinarily rare. The Steelers’ notes identify Jaylen Warren as the first NFL player to record an 80-yard touchdown reception and a 50-yard touchdown run in the same game since Herschel Walker did it for Dallas against Philadelphia in December 1986. Nearly four decades separated those performances.

Jaylen Warren became the sixth player in NFL history to accomplish that combination. The other names listed were Herschel Walker, Delvin Williams, Harmon Wages, Gale Sayers and Jim Brown. That is a small historical company for a player who hurt Indianapolis in two different ways.

The distinction is more meaningful than a generic total-yardage milestone. An 80-yard receiving score requires a play that travels almost the entire field, while a 50-yard rushing score demands another explosive finish through the run game. Indianapolis failed to contain both.

The two touchdowns also accounted for a large share of Jaylen Warren’s production. His 50-yard scoring run represented nearly half of his rushing yardage, and the 80-yard reception supplied most of his receiving total. Pittsburgh’s biggest offensive advantages came from plays that immediately became points.

That does not diminish the rest of his work. Jaylen Warren still carried 15 times and reached 101 rushing yards, averaging 6.7 yards per attempt. His five catches gave Aaron Rodgers another productive receiving option rather than limiting the back’s role to handoffs.

The performance was Jaylen Warren’s third 100-yard rushing game of the season and the seventh of his career. According to the supplied notes, his 101 yards also pushed him past 3,000 career rushing yards. He finished the game with 3,042.

For Pittsburgh, the rushing milestone carried a particularly useful pairing. Jaylen Warren joined Franco Harris as the only Steelers players in the Super Bowl era to record at least 80 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown, plus at least 80 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown, in the same game. Franco Harris had done it in Week 13 of 1979.

Indianapolis nevertheless remained close enough to require another decisive Pittsburgh response. The notes establish that the Steelers led 24–22 before their next listed touchdown. The Colts had kept the margin narrow, making the fourth-quarter finishing work important.

Aaron Rodgers returned to Pat Freiermuth with 6:35 remaining. The quarterback completed a 17-yard touchdown pass, extending Pittsburgh’s lead to 31–22. The tight end’s second score gave the Steelers a nine-point cushion.

That touchdown brought Pat Freiermuth to four receiving scores on the season. It also gave him the third game of his career with at least two touchdown catches. Indianapolis had allowed Pittsburgh’s tight end to score from both one yard and 17 yards.

Chris Boswell supplied the next listed scoring blow with 3:43 remaining. His 54-yard field goal stretched the lead to 34–22. Pittsburgh had added 10 points through a touchdown and a long field goal during a late stretch when Indianapolis needed stops.

Those two fourth-quarter scoring plays explain how the Steelers strengthened their position after the Colts had closed within two. Aaron Rodgers and Pat Freiermuth provided the touchdown, and Chris Boswell converted from beyond 50 yards. Pittsburgh finished opportunities that could have remained uncertain.

Aaron Rodgers’ complete passing line was a major part of that success. He completed 71 percent of his attempts, threw three touchdown passes and avoided interceptions. The Steelers did not need an enormous passing-yardage total because the completions included direct scoring damage.

The performance also extended a notable streak. Aaron Rodgers became the first quarterback in Steelers history to throw at least three touchdown passes in three consecutive weeks. The notes state that he had not produced such a three-game stretch since his 2021 season with Green Bay.

His three touchdown passes brought his season total to 10. The notes also credit Aaron Rodgers and head coach Mike McCarthy with their 101st regular-season victory as a starting-quarterback and head-coach pairing. Their working history supplied context, while Sunday’s passing efficiency supplied the immediate result.

The absence of interceptions is particularly relevant in a game shaped by explosive plays. Pittsburgh was able to receive the upside of aggressive scoring passes without a listed interception undermining them. Aaron Rodgers gave the Steelers efficient production and three successful finishes.

Indianapolis could not match that balance. Jonathan Taylor’s 45 rushing yards came on 15 carries, an average of three yards per attempt. The rest of the Colts’ rushing output added only 21 yards across nine attempts.

Pittsburgh had also held Jonathan Taylor to 45 rushing yards in the teams’ previous-season meeting, according to the notes. Sunday repeated that yardage figure with one additional carry. The Steelers again kept Indianapolis’ featured runner from establishing a substantial ground advantage.

The team total was just as damaging. Sixty-six yards on 24 rushing attempts left Indianapolis without enough rushing efficiency to relieve the burden on Daniel Jones. A passing attack completing 54.5 percent of its attempts had to shoulder much of the offensive work.

Pittsburgh’s defense also registered 11 passes defensed. The supplied notes identify that as the Steelers’ highest total since a game against Indianapolis in Week 9 of 2025. It was another indication that the Colts’ passing offense encountered frequent disruption.

Those plays matter even when they do not become interceptions. A defended pass can end a down without allowing a completion, forcing an offense to attempt another conversion or abandon a possession. The notes do not provide the situation for each breakup, but the total supports the broader picture of an inefficient Indianapolis passing day.

Cameron Heyward contributed three tackles, one quarterback hit, one tackle for loss and a sack. The sack raised his career total to 93. Pittsburgh received another productive contribution from a veteran defensive lineman while its offense supplied the more spectacular highlights.

The Steelers’ ability to contain the run and disrupt passes gave their scoring plays additional value. Indianapolis had to keep answering an offense capable of jumping 80 yards or 50 yards in a single snap. That is a punishing requirement for a team whose running game was producing less than three yards per attempt.

Pittsburgh also extended its home winning streak to five games, dating to the previous season. The notes identify the victory as another successful response following a loss, with the Steelers having won their last four games in that circumstance. Sunday’s performance supplied concrete evidence of the response through efficient quarterback play and explosive running-back production.

The supplied document does not include a full drive chart or snap-by-snap gamebook, so the exact buildup to every score cannot be reconstructed responsibly. The established scoring sequence nevertheless shows the decisive pattern: Jaylen Warren struck from long range, Pat Freiermuth finished through the air and Chris Boswell extended late advantages with field goals.

Indianapolis was close enough to threaten, but Pittsburgh kept finding the larger answer. Jaylen Warren’s two touchdowns covered 130 yards, Aaron Rodgers threw three scoring passes without an interception and Pat Freiermuth turned two catches into touchdowns. The Colts could narrow the margin; they could not contain the players who kept widening it.