Going into this game, I believed it would be pretty low-scoring, and although it wasn’t as low as I thought, the defense definitely controlled most of the day. For the New Orleans Saints, this was a must-win after owner Gayle Benson’s comments two weeks ago and the fact that they are the representatives in France. But after the offense had zero run game and struggled in the redzone which is something we have not seen this year, it led to this loss. 

Even with the low-scoring game, the offense was the side of the ball that had most of the clear standouts from this game, but the defense did have one. 

With a broken hand, offensive line struggles, confusing play calling, and a run game that did not show up, Tyler Shough had one of his best games in weeks. The Pittsburgh Steelers defense is really good, but they do not blitz much. That is when Shough can be relied upon and really shine, and that’s exactly what happened. Was it perfect? Absolutely not; that’s what is likely to happen when you only rely on your second-year QB to carry the entire offense, but for the most part, he did really well. 

Again, you would have liked the offense to score more, and the interception in the redzone hurt.

This is both offense and special teams, and I’m happy to talk about this player. Before this game, I had Barion Brown as someone the Saints needed to have a good game from, and he outperformed even that. In the return game, Brown looked much better and had some great moments. It’s still a work in progress, but better. Then, on offense, Brown was finally being utilized, and he had the Saints’ longest reception of the year on a deep pass from Shough. He also made some plays in the short game. 

It was by far his best game of his young career. 

And with our defensive representative, Chase Young had a really great second-half performance that allowed this game to be close. He had a clutch sack on third down in the redzone and got one in the fourth quarter to get the ball back to the offense. In the first half, Young was not really making an impact, and Aaron Rodgers was really able to pick apart this defense on the run, but slowly throughout the rest of the game, Young took over.