Warren helped Pittsburgh cash in a roughing-the-kicker reprieve

Pittsburgh's most revealing break in its 30-27 win over Cincinnati did not score a point. It wiped out a punt.

The Steelers trailed 20-17 when Aaron Rodgers threw incomplete on third-and-6 with 6:53 left in the third quarter. The next play should be understood through its enforcement, not its punt distance: Cedric Johnson's roughing-the-kicker penalty made the punt a no-play. Fifteen penalty yards replaced fourth-and-6 with first-and-10.

Cincinnati had stopped the offense on third down. It now had to face it again.

That was the gift. What followed was the work. Jaylen Warren ran for nine yards, then, after an incompletion, gained seven on third-and-1. Rodgers completed a 14-yard pass to Germie Bernard. A no-gain run and an eight-yard completion to Warren left another third down. Rodgers finished that one with a six-yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf at 2:43. The extra point put Pittsburgh ahead 24-20.

The distinction matters. The enforcement restored an offensive opportunity; it did not award a touchdown. Pittsburgh still converted two third downs after the reprieve, one through Warren's run and one through Metcalf's scoring catch. Cincinnati supplied another chance. Pittsburgh made that chance expensive.

Warren's contribution was bigger than his work after the penalty. He finished with 176 yards from scrimmage: 127 on 17 carries and another 49 on three receptions from four targets.

Pittsburgh recorded 138 rushing yards altogether. Warren supplied 127 of them. His receiving production then added a separate piece of offense rather than merely dressing up the rushing line.

That is the useful corrective to a game remembered through touchdown throws and a late kick. Warren scored neither a rushing nor a receiving touchdown, but leaving him outside the explanation would confuse who finished scoring plays with who supplied yardage.

The totals do not tell us which blocking assignment worked or why a receiving opportunity opened. They do establish a substantial contribution in both parts of the offense. My reading: Warren belongs near the center of this win, not in the paragraph of supporting names after the scorers.

The third-quarter touchdown did not spare Pittsburgh a difficult ending. The score was 27-27 when a later third-and-5 ended with Rodgers being sacked for a 10-yard loss at Cincinnati's 15-yard line with 3:03 remaining.

Fourth-and-15 followed. This time, the answer to a failed third down was a field goal, not a new first down.

Chris Boswell made the 33-yard attempt at 2:15, changing the tie into a 30-27 Pittsburgh lead. That was also the final score.

Keep those two sequences separate. The roughing-the-kicker penalty explains how an earlier punt situation became another offensive opportunity and, through subsequent execution, a touchdown. Boswell's kick supplied the final three-point separation after another third-down failure. Neither needs to swallow the other.

There is enough substance in the actual sequence. Pittsburgh used the reprieve to regain a lead, then ultimately won with a field goal after its offense had been pushed backward.