PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – While having a mostly positive experience as an undrafted free agent, Steelers tailback Jaylen Warren working on an area that’s cropped up a few times.
Fumbling.
The first time was during a public training camp practice in Latrobe when Mike Tomlin called him a few choice words. He said it loud enough for the fans to hear to try and make a point to Warren.
The rookie from Oklahoma State would carry a football he called ‘Jaylen’s Baby’ around for much of the next week. It would go with him to meetings and to meals as well as on the field.
He would fumble again in a preseason game that was recovered by Miles Boykin. Warren fumbled again Thursday night in Cleveland, this time recovered by Diontae Johnson. That would prove big as the Steelers would score their second touchdown.
Warren said simply he had the ball in a bad spot. He was paying too much attention to what was in front of him and not enough of the situation. He didn’t have it as tight as he should.
“I have to do extra, be more cautious, be more aware,” Warren said as the coaches said they were going to put him back in. “I put it on tape, I have to live with it. Whatever you put on tape, you put it out there for 32 teams to see. You got to be prepared to take what they'll give you.”
Warren said his role is to support Najee Harris in any way, even if it’s only as a third down back. He said he’s getting about 10 plays a game, but looking to make them the best plays he can. Warren has 52 yards on 11 carries with a pair of receptions for three yards.
Just a rookie, Warren able to note they must keep faith in each other offensively.
“Some people handle adversity different,” Warren said. “We like to smile in the face of it. When you see someone down, just pick them up. We got to bring each other up collectively.”
“It’s always tough coming off of a loss,” said tight end Zach Gentry. “Starting 1-2 is not where we want to be especially when it feels like a lot of things are going our way the last couple of games. We’ve let it slip away a little bit. That’s the beauty of the NFL season that we have 14 more of these things.”
What changed in a first half with 88 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns to 16 yards rushing and a field goal in the second half.
“We were a more balanced attack in the first half,” Gentry said. “Najee was ripping off chunks in the first half and the game kind of got away from us in the second half. The play-calling had to change a little bit because we had some points to make up for. The first half was nice and balanced.”
“I would imagine confidence is still high. We know for a fact that we are a good, talented group. You see it every year, a lot of it is just teams make runs and come together and figure out what to do and how to do it. This locker room is not lacking any confidence.”