Not much has been working for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense lately. So much so that they let go of offensive coordinator Matt Canada on Tuesday morning in a Halley’s Comet-esque move for the organization.
One thing that has been working is the running game. Jaylen Warren has been leading the way and is the NFL’s leading rusher over the last three weeks. During that time, he has amassed 318 rushing yards on 36 carries for an impressive 8.83 yards per carry. He’s also scored two touchdowns on the ground over that span. Against the Cleveland Browns in Week 11 alone, he rushed nine times for 129 yards and a touchdown. That includes the explosive run of 74 yards to score at the beginning of the second half. He is one of the only bright spots for the Steelers’ offense lately and he received some extra recognition this week, winning Kyle Brandt’s Angry Run Award for Week 11.
“Let’s talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers ’cause oh baby,” Brandt said during his segment on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football. “My favorite player in the NFL number 30 for the Steelers was spinning. This is Denzel Ward. Denzel Ward calls himself the warden. We got a jailbreak here!”
The first play that Brandt highlighted in a two-play feature on Warren was a run on 2nd and 1 in the second quarter. Warren showed off a little bit of everything on this play. He spun away from first contact, threw multiple stiff arms as he bounced outside, and finished with a nice burst forward before being forced out of bounds. The play ended up gaining 11 yards, but it could have been stuffed right around the line of scrimmage if not for Warren’s efforts.
“You know the best part is, Jaylen Warren, the hardest runner in the NFL this year—we got two. Give me the next one,” Brandt continued.
The second play was a 2nd-and-9 run at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Warren has earned a reputation as a runner who never goes down after first contact. The same was true on this play, where Warren shows off excellent contact balance shaking off the first tackle. He then bounces outside and delivers one of the nastiest stiff arms you will see to Browns safety Rodney McLeod Jr. The run was good for 21 yards, Warren’s second explosive play of the day.
“I don’t care where he was drafted. Not drafted,” Brandt said. “That dude runs hard…That’s all kind of mystery about how to tackle this guy and I love it.”
Unfortunately for Warren, he’s also been on the receiving end of a couple of large fines. He’s adamantly said that he won’t change how he plays, and that hard-nosed approach showed up on Sunday, which led to the Angry Run award. It also led to one of the co-hosts of GMFB, Peter Schrager, coming up with a way to help Warren with the money he’s lost on an undrafted free-agent contract.
“Jaylen Warren’s been fined for some runs and they’ve taken money out of his pocket, right?” Schrager said. “Let’s make that money up with Angry Runs merchandise. Let’s support Jaylen Warren. Let’s buy his jersey, let’s get him an Angry Run, let’s make him a superstar. Let’s make that money back.”
Warren received two of the three votes from the panel to win the award with one going to Commanders QB Sam Howell.
