Coming in on a short week, the New Orleans Saints traveled to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers, who got their star pass rusher, TJ Watt back as his last game was back in week one. The Black and Gold played a lot of mistake football between penalties and turnovers as the Steelers defeat the Saints 20-10.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Pittsburgh began with the ball at their own 25-yard line. On the sixth play of the drive, quarterback Kenny Pickett threw an incomplete pass to tight end Pat Friermuth which led to a punt.
The Saints’ first drive of the game resulted in the three-and-out and punter Blake Gillikin making an early appearance. On the next possession for the Steelers, running back Najee Harris carried the ball a couple of times to start for 12 yards and move into Saints territory. George Pickens would cap off the drive with a one-yard touchdown run to give Pittsburgh the seven-point lead with 5:06 left in the first quarter.
The Steelers would extend their lead to 10 with a 33-yard Matthew Wright field goal. Harris set up the score with a big 36-yard run where he broke multiple tackles to the 20-yard line of the Saints.
New Orleans got on the board midway through the second quarter with a made Wil Lutz field goal from 44 yards out. Alvin Kamara got a couple of rushes in for 17 yards. Rashied Shaheed on 3rd & 7 picked up 12 on the catch to extend the drive. Steelers edge rusher TJ Watt tackled Andy Dalton from behind on third down to set up the attempt.
Shaheed was interfered with on the punt return to set up the offense of the Saints at their own 29-yard line with 1:53 before halftime. Dalton on the first down completed a 17-yard pass to Jarvis Landry. On 2nd & 18 after a sack by Alex Highsmith, Chris Olave caught the ball for a 14-yard gain. Juwan Johnson got the first down with a 10-yard catch, then another for eight. Olave drew an unnecessary roughness penalty on Damontae Kazee to set up the 15-yard touchdown to Johnson with 19 seconds to go. The game would head into halftime tied at 10.
For the first Steelers possession of the second half, Pittsburgh’s Wright had a chance to give them the lead again but missed his attempt from 39 yards out.
New Orleans couldn’t put up any points themselves as they punted the ball back to the Steelers. On the following possession, Pittsburgh held the ball for 11 plays that ran 6:22 off of the clock for 83 yards. Wright would give them the three-point lead with a little over a minute into the fourth quarter.
Dalton overthrew Landry on 3rd & 5 as Kazee came up with the interception. Pittsburgh only had to go 44 yards as Pickett hit pay dirt from one-yard out as the Steelers led 20-10 with 8:38 to go in the game. Jaylen Warren got three touches for 37 yards on the possession, including a 26-yard catch on second down.
On fourth down for the Saints, Dalton was stuffed as he tried to quickly snap the ball to catch the defense of the Steelers off guard. Wright did miss another field goal to give New Orleans another chance to cut their deficit to one score, but Dalton’s deep pass to Kevin White was picked off on third down by Levi Wallace.
That interception sealed the game for the Steelers as New Orleans fell to 3-7 on the season in a 20-10 loss in Pittsburgh.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Najee Harris
The former Alabama running back carried the ball with purpose on Sunday. He didn’t get into the endzone but ran efficiently for 99 yards on 20 attempts in the 20-10 win over the Saints.
BIG NUMBER: 3
Coming into today’s contest, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ longest run on the year was 19 yards. They eclipsed that mark three times on Sunday with a 36-yard run by Najee Harris, a 23-yarder from Kenny Pickett, a 22-yard gain by George Pickens, and a 21 yard pick up to seal the game by Jaylen Warren. An honorable mention was the 10 accepted penalties for 74 yards.
UP NEXT: The New Orleans Saints (3-7) will host the Los Angeles Rams (3-5) on Sunday, November 20th for a 12:00 p.m. kickoff.