Steelers beat Saints 16-10 in Paris as Saints rush for just 18 yards

The game

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the New Orleans Saints 16-10 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday, 25 October, in the first NFL regular season game played in Paris. The Steelers improved to 5-2 and won their third straight game, while the Saints fell to 2-5. The Steelers led 13-10 at halftime, and the Saints did not get within scoring range again after the opening drive of the second half. The Saints' run game produced just 18 yards.

The Steelers' run game

Mike McCarthy leaned on Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle after a pass-heavy start to the season. Warren finished with 101 rushing yards on 16 carries, and Dowdle added 41 yards on nine carries. Pittsburgh posted a season-high 148 rushing yards, above the 138 it recorded in a Week 3 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Rodgers completed 19 of 30 passes for 212 yards and a touchdown, and Pittsburgh used Spencer Anderson as an extra lineman in jumbo packages for the first time this year.

We're not going to get numb to it, but we're almost expecting Jaylen to have 100 yards and make some splash plays.

Saints struggles

New Orleans coach Kellen Moore said the team has to evaluate everything during the bye week and that he was not ready to jump to any decisions on staff. Tyler Shough threw a red zone interception in the third quarter that Payton Wilson picked off, and Daniel Carlson missed a 52-yard field goal wide right in the fourth quarter. Moore said Carlson's late arrival in Paris, caused by his wife's imminent childbirth, was not a factor.

We got to take the emotion out of it and truly just evaluate it and find what the next steps are.

Steelers outlook

The Steelers stepped up after a Thursday night loss in Cleveland that had dropped them to 2-2. McCarthy framed the stretch as a four-game series and said the team needed to go 4-0. Beating the Browns in Pittsburgh next week would send Pittsburgh into its bye with a four-game winning streak. Across the rest of the NFL, the Vikings stayed unbeaten, and the Bengals beat the Ravens 35-13.