After all that fuss, Pickens, Warren fittingly true to themselves

The football world was criticizing George Pickens for his lack of effort of blocking on a potential Jaylen Warren touchdown run against the Colts one week ago.

In the Steelers' 34-11 win over the Bengals Saturday at Acrisure Stadium, and the football world will be talking about the contrary. It was Pickens' explosiveness, game-changing ability, and his effort with getting downfield combined with more of that same effort from Warren that helped this offense to their highest scoring output of the season.

Days before this game, Pickens fielded multiple questions about his lack of effort on that play and on a Mitch Trubisky interception on which he ran away from the opponents' ball carrier. This created questions of leadership, concerns over whether Pickens is fully bought in, and it raised a ton of doubt for this offense with Mason Rudolph set to lead the charge against the playoff-hopeful Bengals.

Pickens made good on his two blunders from last week. His day was the highlight reel that kept playing in front of 66,646 fans in the 2023 regular-season home finale.

Maybe that fire from last week was motivation?

"I was just playing the best I could, to be honest," Pickens said. "I know I'm true to myself. I literally have highlights and blocking highlights. I know who I am, personally. I just came here and tried to play the best I could. ... I would probably just say that I kept receipts, for sure. But you guys and people just got a job to do. Probably the biggest thing I took out of it."

That reflection translated to three spectacular plays that blew the lid off of the North Shore and beyond. It was, first, his 86-yard touchdown reception on the Steelers' second play from scrimmage, 77 of which were recorded after the catch:

And if you want to talk about effort, just look at this context from NFL Next Gen Stats on that catch and run:

Then, there was his 44-yard reception with a gorgeous toe-tap to help set up a Chris Boswell field goal just before halftime. This ball from Rudolph sailed 55.7 yards through the air and is the longest completion by air distance for the Steelers since 2017, per Next Gen Stats, and Pickens did the rest:

And if that wasn't enough, Pickens created some more deep-ball magic with his 66-yard touchdown reception -- with about 40 yards after the catch -- to give the Steelers a 31-8 lead with 9:38 left in the third:

Consider that debt paid in emphatic fashion.

Pickens had to answer questions about his lack of effort on those couple of plays from last week, but Najee Harris -- a leader for the offense's side of the locker room -- felt Pickens had nothing to answer for from the locker room's perspective.

"We don't care about that. Respectfully they're not doing what we're doing, so there were no questions that needed to be answered or nothing like that," Harris said. "He played well today. He practiced hard. He's a good player for us. There's clips of him blocking guys off the ball, running them off, throwing them. So, why's it a question? It's always getting blown up when somebody does something wrong, but they hide the good s***. Know what I mean? That's how it is. That's the sport we play. But I feel like there was no questions that needed to be answered. He played well today. So did (Rudolph)."

Then there was Warren, who was on the wrong end of that lack of effort from Pickens a week prior. Leading into this game, Warren said this week he would have blocked for Pickens on that play in Indianapolis.

He made good on his word against the Bengals on a touchdown run from Calvin Austin early in the second quarter. Just watch Warren flat-line Germaine Pratt as Austin bolts for the end zone:

"His job was just to get me into the end zone, and we're part of the same rookie class so it's a tighter camaraderie in that," Austin said of Warren. "We just always fight for each other, go the ultimate distance for each other, and that showed."

Warren is developing a reputation for this kind of hustle play. He joked he was trying to avoid his third hit-related fine all while continuing to play within his style Saturday.

"It's always been my thing," Warren said. "As you know, I've gotten fined a couple of times. ... I think (he kept his head out of it). I don't know. I hope so (that he won't be fined). I really hope so. I just seen him coming around on that play. I just started out and made what ever -- see color, hit color -- and I saw him and I didn't think it was going to happen like that, but ..."

Warren contributed 54 yards on 13 touches and was, again, the perfect Robin to Harris' Batman on Saturday. Harris carried the ball 19 times for 78 yards and a touchdown as the Steelers rushed for 113 yards against the Bengals.

But, that block was Warren's highlight of the night. That block is becoming vintage for a player who is consistently giving effort week after week.

"If anything I will remember that play more than a run," Warren added. "I love plays like that when I can help the team. Calvin scored and that means a lot. Seeing him score like that, I am glad I did my job. My 1-of-11 job that helped him succeed.”

Warren was great, but Pickens was greater from an effort standpoint.

Mike Tomlin made the call to play Pickens Saturday amid these mid-week questions of his effort. The top reason cited for this was Pickens' talents.

We all saw that Saturday. In all, Pickens posted four catches for 195 yards and his two touchdowns with 112 of those yards coming after the catch. He eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the season with his performance.

"The plays that we had dialed up, Mason just let it rip," Pickens said. "It's all up to the QB and I feel like he was taking more shots, personally."

It was, from an analytical perspective, one for the books for Pickens.