Matt's Stats: Week 7 vs. Saints

Series history

These two teams have only met 17 times, with New Orleans winning nine. They have never met in the postseason. This series began in 1967, and they squared off four times in the 1960s with Pittsburgh winning just one. The most recent matchup was a 20-10 Steelers win in Pittsburgh in 2022. Between 1974 and 1993, the Steelers won five of seven meetings.

Matchup overview

• The Saints snapped a three-game losing streak with a win over the Giants in New York in which they scored 34 in a row at one point. The Steelers got their first road win of the season at Tampa Bay in overtime despite trailing by 13 when the fourth quarter began.

• The Steelers and Bills are the only two teams to start the season 4-2 or better each of the past four years.

• Pittsburgh is +3 in turnover differential. New Orleans was +3 last week and for the season is -3. The Steelers have 10 takeaways, second most. The Saints have 12 giveaways, third most.

• New Orleans has allowed a league-high 49 points off turnovers.

• The Steelers had 31:51 time of possession during regulation at Tampa Bay and for the game ended with 38:36 compared to 31:24 for the Buccaneers. The Saints held the ball for 31:02 last week to bring them to 28:59 for the season. Pittsburgh is at 30:26 for the season, 13^th highest.

• Pittsburgh is -3 in sack differential compared to +2 for the Saints. The Steelers' 2.7 sacks per game is ninth best, but their 3.2 sacks-allowed average is only better than three offenses.

• Pittsburgh is -6 in explosive play differential. New Orleans is -9.

• The Steelers start their average drive 0.5 yards worse than their opponents. New Orleans is at -4, better than only three teams.

• The Saints are penalized at just 44.3 yards per game, second best. Pittsburgh is at 51.7, ninth best.  But in terms of number of penalties, the Steelers are fourth best (36) and New Orleans is 10^th best (40).

• New Orleans has a yardage differential of -337, better than only three teams. The Steelers sit at +78, which is 12^th best.

• The Saints allow a full rushing yard (4.8) more than they produce (3.8) and have given up 244 more rushing yards.

• Steelers rookies have played 1,196 total snaps, seventh most in the NFL.

• The Saints have yet to score first in a game this season. This is only true for New Orleans and Miami.

• The Steelers have only allowed their opponent to reach the red zone 10 times, fewest in the league. The Saints have allowed 26, most in the league.

When Pittsburgh has the ball

• The Steelers averaged 3.9 yards per play in Week 6. The Saints allowed 6.4 to the Giants. For the season, Pittsburgh produces 5.0. The Saints allow 5.8, which is better than just five defenses.

• The Saints are 31^st in points allowed per game (29.7).

• Pittsburgh goes three and out on 29.6% of drives, the fifth highest percentage. The Saints defense forces a three and out 24.5% of the time, seventh best.

• Only the Cowboys (67.5%) are passing the ball a higher percentage of the time than Pittsburgh (66.2%). The Steelers drop back on 87% of their third-down snaps, the second highest rate in the league. They have one rushing attempt inside the opponent's 5-yard line. They have an 88% pass rate inside the 10. League average is 47%.

• Pittsburgh uses play action at a 22% rate, 28^th in the league. New Orleans sees play action 28% of the time, the league's third highest rate.

• The Steelers' average time to throw of 2.71 seconds is quicker than only three offenses.

• The Saints surrendered 377 passing yards in Week 6.

• Since becoming a Steeler, Aaron Rodgers has 36 touchdown passes against 12 interceptions in 22 games.

• Rodgers attempted 9.5% of his passes at 10+ yards downfield against the Buccaneers and 37.5% of his attempts were at or behind the line of scrimmage. Over the past two weeks, Rodgers has averaged 3.7 and 3.8 air yards per pass attempt.

• The combination of DK Metcalf and Germie Bernard missed a total of nine snaps last week. Brandon Smith was the wide receiver with the next most snaps with 41 of a possible 79. Brandon Johnson (3 snaps) was the only other wide receiver to see the field vs. the Buccaneers.

• Metcalf had 12 receiving yards at halftime at Tampa Bay but finished the game with 11 catches for 93 yards. His 15 targets were a season high. He has a 98% route share. Metcalf has had fewer than 40 receiving yards in four games this year but has 93 or more in the other two. He ranks 68^th in yards per route run (1.35) among 108 qualified wide receivers.

• Benard scored his first NFL touchdown in overtime last week and finished the day with 11 catches for 87 yards. Over his past two games, Bernard has 17 catches for 167 yards. He played 61% of his snaps out of the slot last week after averaging a 44% slot rate previously. Bernard has run a route on 93.9% and 100% of dropbacks the past two weeks. Bernard's average route depth of 6.0 yards is 83^rd of 85 wide receivers that have run at least 100 routes. Bernard is averaging 1.42 yards per route run.

• Pat Freiermuth ranks 11^th in routes run per game (26.8) among 50 qualified tight ends.

• Darnell Washington has a team-high five end zone targets. He saw his highest route share (52%) of the season last week.

• Since Week 3, Washington has seen 18 targets compared to 19 for Freiermuth.

• The Saints allow the fifth most receptions (7.0) and fifth most yards per game (75.9) per game to tight ends.

• Rico Dowdle ran seven routes last week compared to 21 for Jaylen Warren.

• Pittsburgh had 155 yards after the catch at Tampa Bay.

• New Orleans had five sacks last week. Chase Young has 5.5 for the season and Carl Granderson has 4. No other Saints player has more than two.

• Pittsburgh now averages 4.6 yards per rush. New Orleans allows 4.8, better than only four defenses.

• Pittsburgh is fifth in yards after first contact (3.16). The Saints defense is 28^th (3.11).

• Warren has 460 of the Steelers' 595 rushing yards.

• The Steelers had 70 rushing yards in regulation last week.

• In the first two weeks of the season, Warren played 55% of the snaps compared to 42% for Dowdle. Over the next three weeks with Dowdle sidelined, Warren played 92% of the snaps. Dowdle returned last week and got 17 snaps compared to 55 for Warren, who also got every one of the 13 third-down snaps. In the fourth quarter and overtime, Warren got 31 of a possible 37 snaps against Tampa Bay.

• New Orleans has allowed a league-high 12 touchdowns to running backs.

• The Saints forced four turnovers in Week 6.

• Pittsburgh is 28^th in third-down offense (32.9%). The Saints' third-down defense ranks 27^th (44.6%).

• Only 37% of scoring plays against the Steelers have been touchdowns, the lowest percentage in the league.

When New Orleans has the ball

• The Saints averaged 4.7 yards per play last week. Pittsburgh allowed 3.1 yards per play at Tampa Bay. For the season, New Orleans produces 4.8. Pittsburgh allows 5.0, which is eighth best.

• The Saints are producing 0.4 points per drive in the first quarter, 30^th in the league. In the second half of games, New Orleans produces 2.62 points per drive, sixth best.

• New Orleans uses 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end) at the league's sixth highest rate (68.2%).

• New Orleans is throwing the ball at a 61.7% clip, the ninth highest rate.

• The Saints run 67 plays per game, more than all but four offenses.

• The Saints are 28^th in explosive play rate (5.3%).

• The Saints have an average time to throw of 2.76 seconds. Only five offenses are quicker. The Steelers face a time to throw of 2.81 seconds. Only three defenses are quicker.

• Not including the final kneel-down, the Saints' final four possessions last week yielded just 20 total yards. None of those drives lasted more than three plays or took more than 1:07 off the clock.

• Jalon Daniels threw the ball 43 times but for just 164 yards last week against Pittsburgh. Joe Burrow is the only passer to throw for multiple touchdowns against Pittsburgh.

• QB Tyler Shough threw for only 144 yards, but three of his 14 completions were touchdown passes. Shough had over 250 passing yards in each of his first four games. Over the past two, he has 240 combined with fewer than 5 yards per attempt in each. Shough is 20 of 26 with 10 touchdowns and no interceptions as a red zone passer. Shough is tied for third with 14 total touchdowns scored, but his eight giveaways are fourth most.

• WR Chris Olave is averaging 96.7 receiving yards per game, but he has been limited to four catches and 46 or fewer yards in back-to-back games. He ranks 14^th among 108 wide receivers in yards per route run (2.61).

• WR Devaughn Vele has failed to top 42 yards in three of his past four games.

• TE Juwan Johnson had a season-low 53% route share and 6.7% target share last week. The Saints have run the ball on just 26.1% of Johnson's snaps. Johnson ranks eighth in explosive catch rate (23.8%) among 50 tight ends.

• The Saints have run the ball on 65.9% of TE Oscar Delp's snaps. He only has three catches.

• The Steelers allow 8 yards per target to tight ends, 25^th in the league. Tight ends aligned in the slot have caught 10 of 12 passes against Pittsburgh.

• Shough wasn't sacked last week by the Giants.

• New Orleans is rushing for 3.8 yards per carry. Pittsburgh allows 4.6.

• The Saints average 1.07 yards before contact, 26^th most. The Steelers defense also allows 1.07, fifth best.

• New Orleans is 27^th in yards after contact (2.75).

• The Saints have five ball carriers between 81 and 153 rushing yards.

• Pittsburgh held Bucky Irving to just 46 rushing yards on 19 carries.

• Among running backs, Kendre Miller played 29 snaps last week, CJ Donaldson Jr. played 21 and Alvin Kamara played 19 but did leave the game briefly with injury.

• Kamara had 69 yards last week and a touchdown on nine touches. He averages 3.4 yards per carry. Kamara averages 10 touches per game.

• Miller averages just 3.1 yards per carry. Just 2% of his runs have gone for 10+ yards and 20 of his 22 touches last week were rush attempts. He has received 60% of the backfield carry share over the past two weeks.

• New Orleans ran for 175 yards vs. the Giants. Four ball carriers had at least 32 rushing yards.

• Nick Herbig had two sacks and three tackles for loss last week.

• Jalen Ramsey had two sacks and four tackles for loss.

• New Orleans is eighth in third-down offense (42.5%). The Steelers' third-down defense (32.5%) is sixth.

• The Saints have the second best red zone offense (84.2%). Pittsburgh's red zone defense (50.0%) is seventh.

Special teams

• Chris Boswell missed his fourth kick of the year in Week 6. Daniel Carlson has missed three field goals in 10 attempts. Boswell is now 17 of 23 on field goals in his last 10 games.

• Boswell passed Gary Anderson last week for the most field goals made in Steelers history.

Memorable Moment: Saints 35, Steelers 32 (Nov. 30, 2014 at Acrisure Stadium)

The Saints traveled to Pittsburgh for a battle of future Hall of Fame quarterbacks, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger. The Steelers dominated time of possession and Roethlisberger lit up New Orleans with 435 yards through the air on 58 pass attempts. The Steelers offense racked up 36 first downs in this game. But while Brees couldn't keep up with Roethlisberger from a passing yardage standpoint, he did throw five touchdowns, giving the Saints a big early lead. Antonio Brown caught two late touchdown passes — one from fellow receiver Lance Moore — as the Steelers roared back, but it wasn't quite enough.

Key matchups

Saints WR Chris Olave vs. Steelers cornerbacks

Although he has been somewhat quiet of late and was dealing with an illness last week, Olave has been one of the premier wide receivers in the league for a while now. Olave is a pristine route runner who can take over a game at any level of the field. Olave has the second most receiving yards (580) in the league this season.

Steelers offensive tackles vs. Saints DE Chase Young

The second overall pick in the 2020 draft had a few rocky seasons, but Young has clearly regained his footing as a dominant edge defender in New Orleans. Few can match his physical gifts. Young had a sack and a half last week.