PARIS -- Mike McCarthy gathered the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night for the final meeting of the week. The NFL's first-ever game in France would kick off the next day, but a small part of McCarthy's mind was focused on what awaited in eight days and nearly 4,000 miles away.
After dropping a Thursday night Week 4 game in Cleveland to fall to 2-2, the Steelers needed to stack wins against struggling teams to push themselves back into the AFC North race. McCarthy wasn't looking past the New Orleans Saints, rather, the coach framed the situation in a more big-picture way for his players.
"This is a four-game series," McCarthy said. "It's important for us to go 4-0."
Three down. One to go.
The Steelers controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and produced a timely turnover to surge past the New Orleans Saints, 16-10 at Stade de France. With wins over the Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and now the Saints, the stage is set: Beat the Browns next week in Pittsburgh and the Steelers will go into their bye week on a four-game winning streak and alone atop the AFC North.
"Momentum is a critical factor in being successful in this game," McCarthy said. "Momentum creates confidence. Confidence is how you win."
Rarely have the Steelers looked remarkable so far. They have blemishes, warts and plenty of question marks considering they have just one win over a team with a winning record (the 4-2 Bengals). But the important thing is that they continue to do exactly what they need to: Capitalize on winnable games against somewhat inferior opponents, make hay before the grueling second half of the schedule and position themselves to be in the conversation down the stretch.
The Steelers have begun to identity and develop several areas that should help as the season unfolds. That starts with an emerging two-headed monster in the backfield. On Sunday, Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle combined for 187 yards from scrimmage. No matter how much the Steelers get the ball to Warren, he always seems to make case for more. Dowdle, meanwhile, has provided the second part of the 1-2 punch since his return from injury a week ago.
"We're not going to get numb to it, but we're almost expecting Jaylen to have 100 yards and make some splash plays," said quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who completed 19 of 30 passes for 212 yards and a touchdown. "He's just so dynamic."
Often pass-happy, the Steelers entered Sunday throwing the ball at the NFL's second-highest-rate (68 percent of plays). Against the Saints, their commitment to the run was evident from the first drive, when they re-introduced the jumbo package with Spencer Anderson reporting as eligible to play the role of the sixth offensive lineman. It's a personnel package with a built-in personality that screams: _Here's the run. Try and stop it._
"There's times out there where you're like, no, screw the play that's called," Anderson said. "We're going to run it again, again, and again."
The Steelers bookended the game in a similar way, with an 11-play drive that consumed the final five minutes and 52 seconds. All 11 plays were runs and Anderson reported as eligible for seven of them. That included when Rodgers took off scrambling on third down and dove head first to ensure he picked up the first down. Tight end Pat Freiermuth celebrated the play by doing Rodgers' signature belt celebration for the QB.
"I think because I am so much less athletic than I used to be, it actually fires up the guys more on the sidelines," Rodgers said. "It's kind of like a backhanded compliment almost. But I'll take it."
While the promising, young offensive line took another step in its development, a team that has been building through the trenches continued to show progress on the other side of the line of scrimmage. The defense limited the Saints to 18 rushing yards on 17 carries. This comes on the heels of back-to-back performances in which the Steelers limited dynamic backs Jonathan Taylor (45 yards) and Bucky Irving (46).
"We felt as a football team that we needed to own the line of scrimmage on both sides," McCarthy said. "We definitely hit the target there."
While the Steelers allowed some easy completions in their zone defenses, especially into the flat, it was another step for coordinator Patrick Graham's group. Maybe the most encouraging development from that standpoint was the play of the inside linebackers, who have been the frequent target of criticism. Payton Wilson's interception took points off the board and Patrick Queen's third-down sack took the Saints off the field for the final time. The defense entered the game with the fifth-best EPA per play and should only move higher in that metric -- and many others.
"We were talking about it with (Elandon Roberts), every team that makes it to the Super Bowl, they always have two good linebackers," Queen said. "They always have two guys that fly around, get to the ball and have each other's back. He had the conversation with us and just said, 'Be who you are.'"
Clearly, the Steelers have a ways to go before they can be considered a legitimate Super Bowl contender. The passing game continues to ebb and flow. Getting open against man coverage has been an issue at times. On Sunday, the Saints deployed a lot of pattern-match zone coverages to tighten windows. Sacks, especially on third downs, have been problematic. And on defense, the Steelers need to find the right mix of pressure. They dialed it up a week ago, but often sat back and allowed Tyler Shough to work through his options to find completions in zone coverages too easily.
In time, this team will show if it can clean up its problem areas to become a real contender or if those issues will be what holds them back. But for now, while style points would be nice, the results are more important -- especially with the final part of this four-game series waiting in Pittsburgh.
"We're gonna go in with you know a little bit of chip on our shoulders because of how last time out there went," Warren said. "We can't wait."
This article originally appeared in [The Athletic](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7724515/2026/10/25/pittsburgh-steelers-saints-win-browns-rematch/).