The Saints and Steelers land in Paris for Sunday morning’s inter-conference duel carrying the same problem in different forms: each team has a clear vulnerability, and each is being asked to make that weakness the other side’s issue.
For New Orleans, the opening is obvious. Pittsburgh has two of its top wide receivers, Michael Pittman Jr. and Roman Wilson, on injured reserve, and DeShon Elliott is questionable for Sunday. The Steelers are one roster move away from getting their starting safety back, but for now the Saints are looking at a receiving corps that is thinner than usual and a secondary that just produced the most interceptions in a game during the Kellen Moore era.
That is the matchup New Orleans has to win first.
The Saints are also coming off a game in which their defense created more takeaways than it had in any other outing under Moore, and they’ll have a fully healthy secondary in Paris. That gives them a chance to squeeze a Steelers passing game that, injuries aside, has still been productive enough to keep defenses honest. Pittsburgh’s offense has averaged 247.8 receiving yards per game, and its quick passing game has produced 10.4 yards per catch. Even with the receiver injuries, this is not a unit that has simply disappeared.
But the Saints’ own best path to victory may not be through the air at all.
The approved game plan points New Orleans toward the ground, where Pittsburgh has been more vulnerable than it has against the pass. The Steelers are seventh in passing yards allowed per game, but they are more susceptible against the run, and the Saints will need to make that difference even wider if they want to control the game. That means the rushing offense has to do more than complement the passing game; it has to set the tone.
That is where the Paris matchup gets more complicated.
Pittsburgh has its own counterpunch in Jaylen Warren, who has become the offense’s most versatile threat. He ranks seventh in rushing yards with 460 and first among NFL tailbacks in receiving yards with 258. Over his last three games, Warren has averaged 130.7 scrimmage yards and 5.3 yards per carry, and he is now the Steelers’ second-leading receiver this season. If Rico Dowdle’s questionable status leaves Warren with even more of the backfield work, his role only grows larger.
That matters because the Saints are being asked to defend a player who can hurt them in multiple ways while also trying to take advantage of Pittsburgh’s own thin receiving depth. Warren gives the Steelers a way to keep drives alive even if the wideout group is limited, and he has been central to their recent offensive production. Since Week 4, Pittsburgh has averaged 28 points per game.
The travel setup adds another layer to the matchup. The Saints have been in Paris since Monday, while the Steelers are flying in Thursday night and, in the words of the approved context, are going straight from the plane to practice. Paris is seven hours ahead of New Orleans and six hours ahead of Pittsburgh, so both teams will be dealing with the time change. But the Saints have had more time on the ground, and the Steelers are arriving later in the week.
That does not decide the game by itself. It does, however, sharpen the contrast between the two teams’ preparations.
Pittsburgh still has encouraging news on its edge rushers, and the Steelers are fourth in the league with 19 sacks through six weeks. But they are also short a corner and a defensive lineman, and their defense is not as sturdy against the run as it is against the pass. New Orleans, meanwhile, has the healthier secondary and the clearer incentive to lean on the ground game.
So the question in Paris is not just which team has the better matchup. It is which weakness can actually be forced into a strength.
The Saints have the cleaner target in Pittsburgh’s depleted receiving corps. The Steelers have the more dangerous individual answer in Warren. And with both teams carrying injuries, travel quirks, and a narrow margin for error into Sunday morning, the game may come down to which side can turn its opponent’s soft spot into the defining feature of the day.