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Saints Season 'Off the Rails' After Steelers Loss

The Saints season only got worse after losing to the Steelers, as the team is officially off the rails.

John Hendrix

In this story:

PITTSBURGH -- It's long overdue, but it's time to reassess everything when it comes to the Saints. New Orleans' season is officially off the rails after their latest loss to the Steelers. 10 games in and we're still seeing the same type of team week after week with bad penalties, tough tackling, and inefficiency on offense and defense. The Saints lost 20-10 in Pittsburgh, and it could have been a lot worse.

Game Recap

The Saints deferred to the second half after winning the coin toss, putting the Steelers on offense to open the game. The Pittsburgh offense managed to get one first down on the drive, as Kenny Pickett found George Pickens on a 3rd-and-6 with Alontae Taylor in coverage. However, that was it for their first drive, as they pinned New Orleans deep inside their own territory to start their first series.

The offense had a tough first drive, immediately getting a false start from the jump via Juwan Johnson. T.J. Watt made his presence felt on the first two plays, stopping Alvin Kamara and Taysom Hill on runs as New Orleans ended up going three-and-out to start. 

Pittsburgh capitalized on their next drive, going 57 yards in 12 plays to get into the end zone via a George Pickens rushing touchdown to take a 7-0 lead with 5:06 left in the opening quarter. The Steelers went for it on a 4th-and-2 from the Saints' 37-yard-line, and had big plays from Dionate Johnson, Pat Friermuth, and benefitted from an Alontae Taylor pass interference call.

New Orleans was once again put in bad field position after a holding call on Tre'Quan Smith that pinned them at their own 10-yard-line. They managed to get a first down on this drive after Andy Dalton did some moving around the pocket to evade the rush and find Adam Trautman for an 18-yard gain. However, they couldn't do much afterwards and were forced to punt back to Pittsburgh with 2:11 left in the opening quarter.

The Saints defense looked to get off the field on the next series after stopping the Steelers early, but a roughing the passer call on Kentavius Street gave them a fresh set of downs and led to them marching down the field to get a 33-yard Matthew Wright field goal out of it. Najee Harris had a big 36-yard run shortly after the penalty that put them in business, as Pittsburgh took a 10-0 lead with 14:17 left until the half.

New Orleans went to work on their next drive, getting a first down through a 12-yard hookup to Chris Olave on the first play. Unfortunately, they'd have to punt after failing to convert another. Dalton went deep for Olave on the 3rd-and-7 play, but he couldn't hang on due to Arthur Maulet breaking up the pass. The Steelers took over with 12:38 left in the second quarter.

The New Orleans defense forced a three-and-out on their next series, and the offense finally got some things going, converting a big third down attempt through a great catch by Rashid Shaheed. They also got big pickups from Alvin Kamara on the ground and Jarvis Landry through the air. The drive stalled out after the team couldn't pick up a 3rd-and-11 inside Steelers territory, settling on a 44-yard Wil Lutz field goal to make it 10-3 with 6:40 left until halftime.

Pittsburgh had a small 9-play drive that only went for 26 yards on their next possession, but ate up some clock and put New Orleans into a two-minute situation with 1:53 left. A fair catch interference penalty helped the Saints start on their next drive, as they ended up getting into the end zone after Dalton hooked up with Juwan Johnson for a 15-yard score. Big plays to Jarvis Landry, Chris Olave, Juwan Johnson and a big unnecessary roughness penalty on Damontae Kazee hitting Olave helped set up the touchdown. The offense went 71 yards in 6 plays to make it 10-10 with 19 seconds left until the half.

Second Half

The Saints looked to get off on the right foot to start the third quarter, and it looked like they were going to after Dalton connected with Landry, but an offensive pass interference call wiped it out. New Orleans wasn't able to do anything beyond that, and punted back to Pittsburgh at the 13:34 mark.

The Steelers offense looked to make the most of it, and they ended up driving down the field thanks to some good runs by Kenny Pickett and George Pickens. The defense made some strong plays, with David Onyemata picking up a sack and Kaden Elliss having a strong coverage rep against Najee Harris on a pass in the end zone. The Steelers settled for a field goal attempt, but it was wide left from 39 yards out. The game stayed locked at 10-10 with 8:55 to play in the third quarter.

New Orleans managed to get a lone first down on their next series, getting a 14-yard hookup to Olave from Dalton on a 3rd-and-10 play. However, just two plays later trouble struck, as the Saints got another pre-snap penalty -- a false start on Calvin Throckmorton. There was a bad snap exchange (low snap in shotgun) on the ensuing play, putting the offense in a 3rd-and-18 situation. Needless to say, they punted back to the Steelers with 5:05 left in the third, but it was a dandy by Blake Gillikin, who pinned the Steelers inside the 5-yard-line.

Pittsburgh proceed to run an 11-play, 83-yard drive despite the bad field position, but had to settle for a 33-yard Matthew Wright field goal. They took a 13-10 lead with 13:43 left in the game on a drive that was highlighted by a big 36-yard hookup from Pickett to Diontae Johnson towards the end of the third quarter. New Orleans toughened up in the red zone to force the field goal attempt.

It didn't take long for the Saints to commit an error, as three plays into their drive Dalton threw a pick on 3rd-and-5 after the ball tipped off Jarvis Landry's hands and was picked off by Damontae Kazee. Pittsburgh took advantage, piecing together an 8-play, 44-yard drive that took 3:38 off the clock and saw them get into the end zone after Kenny Pickett went in from a yard out on the sneak to make it 20-10 with 8:38 to play. 

New Orleans was down to their final strikes, and struck out on their ensuing possession. They ran four plays and couldn't convert from 3rd-and-1 or 4th-and-1. They ended up turning the ball back over to Pittsburgh on downs with 7:44 left to play in the game. The Steelers threatened to put points up on the board on their drive, but Matthew Wright missed a 48-yard field goal. New Orleans ran another uninspiring drive that resulted in Dalton getting picked off by Levi Wallace while trying to hit Kevin White deep. Two plays before, Dalton was stripped by Alex Highsmith, but was able to recover.

Pittsburgh was able to bleed to the clock down, and even when the Saints were in a position to stop them and get the ball back, they couldn't. Pittsburgh just ran the ball and converted more first downs, eventually running out the clock and sinking the Saints to 3-7.

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John Hendrix
JOHN HENDRIX

I officially started covering the New Orleans Saints & other NFL topics in 2011. My work has been featured on various outlets over the years. I worked closely with Skyhorse Publishing in Fall 2018 to update the book, Tales From the New Orleans Saints Sidelines, which filled in all Saints material from the 2013-2017 seasons. Prior to joining Saints News Network, I served as the Managing Editor of SB Nation's Canal Street Chronicles for 3.5 years, and before that with FanSided's Who Dat Dish as the Managing Editor for several years. I have also had experiences of being a freelance Saints reporter for The Sun Herald in Biloxi, MS and a contributing writer for WDSU, a local NBC TV station in New Orleans. I have appeared on a vast amount of TV and Radio shows, both nationally and locally. For tips, comments, or suggestions, please contact me at johnhendrix@saintsnews.net

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