Steelers vs. Colts: Jaylen Warren Channels Herschel Walker as Pittsburgh Outlasts Indy in Week 5

Jaylen Warren took a handoff on the snap after a fourth-down conversion, slipped through the heart of the Indianapolis defense, outran everybody for 50 yards and then leapt over a hurdle that did not exist. The imaginary jump at the goal line was a wink at his junior college days at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, back when he was a 5-foot-8, 220-pound long shot. On Sunday it played more like a coronation.

The undrafted running back finished with 188 yards from scrimmage and touchdowns of 80 and 50 yards, Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes, and the Pittsburgh Steelers held off the Indianapolis Colts 34-22 at Acrisure Stadium in Week 5. Pittsburgh moved to 3-2 and stayed perfect at home. Indy fell to 2-3 and spent the afternoon counting field goals.

A Kicker's Afternoon, a Running Back's Day

Nothing early hinted at a masterpiece. Pittsburgh's first possession was a three-and-out that somehow lost 15 yards, and Spencer Shrader drilled a 57-yard field goal to put the Colts up 3-0.

Then the Steelers ran exactly one play. Rodgers got the ball out to Warren in the right flat a beat before 314-pound defensive tackle Grover Stewart flattened him, and Warren went 80 yards down the sideline. Shrader answered from 56, so Pittsburgh ground out a 12-play, 80-yard march that ended with a 1-yard Pat Freiermuth touchdown.

Indy kept punching back. The Colts needed four tries from inside the Pittsburgh 2 before tight end Tyler Warren plunged in on fourth down, and Chris Boswell's 48-yarder late in the half made it 17-13. The Colts opened the third quarter by driving to the Pittsburgh 3, settled for a 22-yard kick and trailed 17-16, the third time they had pulled within a single point.

That is when the Steelers got cute in the best way. Facing fourth-and-1 near midfield, they snapped it directly to Freiermuth, who got the yard. On the next play, Warren went 50 and hurdled the ghost.

Shrader kept the Colts breathing with kicks from 40 and 28, the second coming after Indy had first-and-goal at the 10 and threw three straight incompletions. At 24-22 with 11:42 left, Pittsburgh answered with its most grown-up drive of the day: rookie Germie Bernard's 25-yard sideline catch on third-and-2, a 1-yard Warren push on fourth-and-1, and a 17-yard Freiermuth touchdown on third-and-6 with 6:35 to play. The Colts turned it over on downs, Boswell hit from 54, and the rest was clock management.

Warren Joins a Very Short List

Warren ran 15 times for 101 yards and caught six passes for 87 more. According to the AP, he became the first player since Herschel Walker for Dallas in 1986 with a touchdown run of at least 50 yards and a touchdown catch of at least 80 in the same game. Steelers.com filled in the rest of the club: Delvin Williams (1976), Harmon Wages (1969), Gale Sayers (1965) and Jim Brown (1963). Six names in league history, and one of them used to play in Ephraim.

"That's unbelievable," Warren said, before doing the most Warren thing possible and passing the credit around. "It's a credit to my teammates for achieving stats like that."

The workload is not an accident. Rico Dowdle missed a third straight game with a toe injury, and Warren has 490 total yards in the three games since Dowdle went down. "He's the man," Steelers coach Mike McCarthy said. "He's hauling it right now for us."

Rodgers, 42, went 22 of 31 for 235 yards, and per Steelers.com he completed his first 11 attempts. The flat pass to Warren was his ninth career touchdown pass of 80 or more yards, tying Ben Roethlisberger's NFL record, and he paid for it with Stewart's full weight. "I feel like I kind of earned it a bit," Rodgers said. "Maybe not 80 yards and a touchdown, but yeah."

Freiermuth caught five passes for 44 yards and two scores. Bernard, making his first NFL start, posted six catches for 80 yards. On defense, Payton Wilson made 10 tackles, Asante Samuel Jr. broke up four passes, and Jonathan Taylor was held to 45 rushing yards on 15 carries.

For Indy, Tyler Warren caught seven balls for 83 yards and Daniel Jones threw for 267 without a turnover. It just never turned into touchdowns.

Death by a Thousand Field Goals

This game was decided inside the 10-yard line, where Indianapolis kept knocking and Pittsburgh kept locking the door. The Colts went 1-for-3 in the red zone and had three separate goal-to-go possessions that produced one touchdown and two short kicks. Pittsburgh went 2-for-2 in the red zone and 2-for-2 on fourth down, and both fourth-down conversions directly fed touchdowns.

Colts coach Shane Steichen did not sugarcoat it. "We settled for way too many field goals today," he said. "Those points are huge. They're four-point plays."

Taylor put it even more simply. "We know it's tough to score touchdowns, but in this league, touchdowns is how you win games," he said.

Shrader was perfect and still lost, which is the NFL equivalent of nailing every free throw in a game you lose by 12.

The Numbers Behind the Hurdle

• 188: Warren's yards from scrimmage, split between 101 rushing and 87 receiving.
• 98.2: Yards Warren actually traveled on the 80-yard touchdown, per Next Gen Stats via Steelers.com.
• 5-for-5: Shrader on field goals, including makes from 57 and 56 in the first quarter alone.
• 4-for-15: Indianapolis on third down.
• 10: Steelers wins in 12 meetings with the Colts, according to the AP.

Pittsburgh Steadies, Indy Stalls

For the Steelers, this was the response they needed after the Thursday night loss at Cleveland. They are 3-0 at Acrisure Stadium and heading to Tampa Bay next Sunday with an offense that suddenly looks like it has a personality. Rodgers also picked up his 166th regular-season win as a starter, passing Roethlisberger for sole possession of fifth all time per Steelers.com, and his 580 touchdown passes including the postseason moved him past Peyton Manning for third.

For the Colts, it snaps a two-game winning streak that included a win over Washington in London. They have not won in Pittsburgh since 2008, and Shrader's leg can only carry an offense so far. Tennessee visits next Sunday in an AFC South game Indy needs.

The Rudy Sequel Nobody Saw Coming

Warren is the undrafted long shot who refused to read the script, a juco hurdler turned record-book entry writing his own sequel one long run at a time.

"Whenever my name is called, I've got to seize the moment," Warren said.

His coach preferred the local dialect. "As we say in Pittsburgh, we redd it up, we redded it up," McCarthy said. Consider Week 5 redded.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press and Steelers.com.