{"id":304922,"date":"2026-10-12T08:12:45","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/304922\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T08:12:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:12:45","slug":"5-winners-and-2-losers-from-pittsburghs-explosive-victory-over-indianapolis-jaylen-warren-puts-the-steelers-on-his-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/304922\/","title":{"rendered":"5 winners and 2 losers from Pittsburgh’s explosive victory over Indianapolis: Jaylen Warren puts the Steelers on his back"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\tHome<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNFL<\/a><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPittsburgh Steelers<\/a><\/p>\n

The Pittsburgh Steelers answered an embarrassing Thursday night loss to the Cleveland Browns with a much better showing against the Indianapolis Colts. Here are the players and position groups who stood out, for better and for worse.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Oct
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOct 11, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren (30) is tackled by Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Jerry Tillery (94) in the second quarter at Acrisure Stadium.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBarry Reeger-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> officially got off the mat against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Coming off an embarrassing performance against the Cleveland Browns<\/a> on Thursday Night Football, Pittsburgh looked like a much better team, and the final score of 34-22 reflected it.<\/p>\n

The win wasn\u2019t perfect, though, and a few problem spots from the Browns game showed up again. So let\u2019s get into the winners and losers from the Steelers\u2019 victory over the Colts.<\/p>\n

Winners<\/p>\n

RB Jaylen Warren<\/a><\/p>\n

Steelers running back Jaylen Warren was the winner of the day. He\u2019s also the winner of the season so far for Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Warren piled up more than 170 yards from scrimmage and multiple touchdowns. He opened the game with a huge 80-yard pass play from Aaron Rodgers, got vertical, and scored. He added a 50-yard rushing touchdown later, and there honestly wasn\u2019t much blocking there. He made people miss and ran through arm tackles all the way to the end zone.<\/p>\n

Warren is a spark plug who just doesn\u2019t go down. He\u2019s the straw that stirs the Steelers\u2019 drink on offense, and he needs the ball as often as Pittsburgh can get it to him.<\/p>\n

QB Aaron Rodgers<\/a><\/p>\n

Rodgers had an efficient day. He started out 10-of-10 for over 100 yards and two touchdown passes, and he passed Peyton Manning for third on the all-time touchdown passes list along the way.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t produce many explosive plays. Even so, he did what needed to be done to win the game.<\/p>\n

WR Germie Bernard<\/a><\/p>\n

Bernard was a winner because Rodgers was more than fine targeting him. That\u2019s notable, since Rodgers has typically been a quarterback who shies away from rookies.<\/p>\n

In fairness, Rodgers didn\u2019t have much of a choice. Michael Pittman Jr. wasn\u2019t out there because he\u2019s heading to IR<\/a>, and Roman Wilson got injured during the game. Bernard stepped up in a major way. He made some great catches over the middle of the field, plus a grab down the boundary on third down that all but sealed the game for Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Bernard is exactly what the Steelers were looking for, and they need more of him.<\/p>\n

Germie Bernard stats vs. Colts<\/p>\n

5 catches <\/p>\n

73 receiving yards<\/p>\n

25-yard long<\/p>\n

TE Pat Freiermuth<\/p>\n

Freiermuth is another player who fits exactly what Pittsburgh wants. He has been a reliable option for years, but he has really come into his own this season with Rodgers in Mike McCarthy\u2019s new offense.<\/p>\n

He had two big catches that turned into touchdowns against Indianapolis. Freiermuth has turned into a route-running savant over the middle of the field, and he\u2019s a great tight end.<\/p>\n

CB Asante Samuel Jr<\/p>\n

Samuel has had an up-and-down season, but he was great on Sunday. His two pass breakups in the red zone helped thwart any potential comeback and forced the Colts to keep settling for field goals.<\/p>\n

The Steelers defense kept bending without breaking, and Samuel was a major reason why.<\/p>\n

Losers<\/p>\n

Special Teams<\/p>\n

You have to start with the special teams. The Colts ripped off a big kick return early in the game, and Kaden Wetjen had problems with the ball.<\/p>\n

The special teams unit just hasn\u2019t been up to snuff for much of this season. Pittsburgh won the game, but you never accept something in a win that you wouldn\u2019t accept in a loss. Letting Indianapolis move the ball on special teams simply isn\u2019t good enough.<\/p>\n

The Steelers have to get better in coverage and when it\u2019s their turn to return punts and kicks. Those marginal differences count, and they\u2019ll decide close games.<\/p>\n

Back 7<\/p>\n

The other loser is the back seven of the Steelers defense. I\u2019m not going to single anyone out because the issues came from a lot of different players.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh had multiple blown coverages, and opponents ran open several times. Patrick Queen missed some tackles, and Colts tight end Tyler Warren started to get hot in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

To be fair to the defense, the Steelers bowed up most of the time and kept Indianapolis out of the end zone. The group also looked better than it did a week earlier against the Browns, when it was horrible.<\/p>\n

There are still real concerns with that back seven. Pittsburgh has to shore up the tackling and stop handing opponents momentum. Above all else, the communication has to be better if this defense is going to hold up over the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

\"Play<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Oct\t\t<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Steelers News<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNFL drops the hammer on Steelers defender for a hit that could come back to bite him later in the 2026 regular season\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker took a hit to the wallet for a play on the opening kickoff against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3, and the type of infraction attached to the fine is what Steelers fans should keep an eye on.<\/p>\n

American Football<\/a> Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home \/ NFL \/ Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers answered an embarrassing Thursday night loss to the Cleveland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[8177,73,75,74,22891],"class_list":["post-304922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-american-football","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-steelers-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}