Saints @ Steelers
Final Score: Steelers 20, Saints 10
Writer: Ben Brown (@BenBrownPL on Twitter)
TJ Watt returned for Pittsburgh and made his presence known on the Saints’ first play from scrimmage, a tackle of Alvin Kamara deep in New Orleans’ own territory. Both offenses had a long touchdown drive in the first half, but were otherwise mediocre at best. Najee Harris had a nice 35-yard run, but he was hit in the head on the tackle and shaken up. He returned to the game but this was easily his best highlight of the season.
In the second half, the Steelers missed a field goal on their first drive but broke a 10-10 tie with a successful field goal on their second. They scored a touchdown later in the game on a one-yard sneak by Kenny Pickett. Despite the low-scoring game, the Steelers played much better than New Orleans for much of the day, especially on offense. The Steelers had six plays of 20+ yards while the Saints had zero, unless you count a 30-yard pass interference penalty on defense which set the Saints up for their only touchdown of the day. Speaking of penalties, the Saints had a season-high 10 penalties in this game. It wasn’t pretty, but the Steelers came away with a much needed victory over the Saints on Sunday.
New Orleans Saints
Quarterback
Andy Dalton: 17/27, 174 Yards, TD, 2 INT | 3 Carries, -1 Yard, 2 Fumble (Recovered)
Taysom Hill: 0/1 | 3 Carries, -1 Yard
Sunday was Andy Dalton‘s 17th start against the Steelers, and he ended his day with a 3-14 career record in those games. Dalton did not play well enough to win this game. His two interceptions weren’t totally his fault – the first bounced off Jarvis Landry‘s hands, and the second was a jump ball that the defender made a nice play on – but turnovers are still turnovers. The first came down three with 12 minutes left in the game and led to what ended up being the game-winning TD for the Steelers, and the second came when the game was already essentially over.
Dalton was also strip-sacked but was able to recover it. The pressure he faced from Pittsburgh’s defense definitely impacted his ability to sit in the pocket and throw it downfield. For whatever reason, he did not check down to Alvin Kamara nearly as often as he has in the last two weeks. That strategy has worked very well, but they abandoned it on Sunday in favor of more downfield looks. As you can imagine, that did not end up paying off for them on Sunday.
Running Back
Alvin Kamara: 8 Carries, 26 Yards | 4 Targets, 3 Receptions, 19 Yards
Alvin Kamara was an afterthought in this game and I’m not quite sure why. He received a carry on the first play of the game and was stuffed immediately at the line of scrimmage, and he only touched the ball ten more times over the course of the game. Kamara had a 14-yard run early in the second quarter but was bottled up otherwise. Pittsburgh’s defensive front played well, but Kamara still should have been more involved in the passing game. He did spend a good chunk of time pass-blocking, but they would have been better off dumping it off to him and letting him try to make something of it. Either way, it was a disappointing day for Kamara and hopefully he’ll bounce back next week against the Rams.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Juwan Johnson: 7 Targets, 5 Receptions, 44 Yards, TD
Chris Olave: 5 Targets, 3 Receptions, 40 Yards
Jarvis Landry: 6 Targets, 3 Receptions, 37 Yards
Adam Trautman: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 22 Yards
Rashid Shaheed: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 12 Yards
Kevin White: 2 Targets
Chris Olave didn’t have a catch until the second quarter thanks to Pittsburgh owning the time of possession in the first. On his second target, he was matched up against a smaller DB on third and seven. He ran a seam route and went up over the defender to make the catch but the defender made a great play to get his hand in there and jar the ball free. Olave took a big hit late in the 2nd quarter, a helmet-to-helmet shot that put the Saints in position to score. Luckily, Olave was fine, but it was still a disappointing day for the young star.
Rashid Shaheed made an awesome catch on 3rd down over the middle of the field. He found a hole in the zone, sat in it, and Dalton hit him as he rolled out of the pocket. Shaheed is a guy who I like more and more every time I see him – he just needs more opportunities.
Jarvis Landry returned for this game and immediately became the second-most-targeted receiver in this offense, as we all expected. Landry does not look like the quick, shifty receiver he once was, and has clearly added some bulk this year. He did have an interception bounce off his hands but otherwise made no impact.
Juwan Johnson had three catches on the Saints’ final drive of the 1st half, including a touchdown with 19 seconds left after a 30-yard unnecessary roughness penalty against the Steelers gave the Saints the ball at Pittsburgh’s 15. For the third week in a row, he was a favorite target for Dalton, and there’s clearly a trend developing here.
Kevin White had a bad drop that led to a 3rd and 12, which the Saints couldn’t convert. The former first-rounder continues to disappoint.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Quarterback
Kenny Pickett: 18/30, 199 Yards | 8 Carries, 51 Yards, TD
Kenny Pickett continues to do uninspiring things at QB for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but a win is a win and Pickett did show off some of the talent that made him a first-round pick this year. First, we’ll start with the good – 51 yards on the ground is great, and he even capped it off with a QB sneak for a TD midway through the 4th quarter. He didn’t turn the ball over, and he even had a 36-yard pass, his longest of the season so far. Pickett appeared to get shaken up in the 3rd quarter, and for a moment it looked like Mitch Trubisky was getting ready on the sideline to replace him on the next drive, but Pickett toughed it out and remained in the game.
This was not a perfect game by Pickett. He nearly threw a pick-six on their second drive – the ball went right through the defender’s hands and he would have taken it to the house. Pickett also had multiple overthrows that left me completely puzzled as to how he could throw such an inaccurate ball. At times, he still looked like a college QB. He’s got a long way to go in his development, but again, a win is a win and that’s all the Steelers ultimately care about.
Running Back
Najee Harris: 20 Carries, 99 Yards | 1 Target
Jaylen Warren: 9 Carries, 37 Yards | 3 Targets, 3 Receptions, 40 Yards
Najee Harris clearly heard all the talk about Jaylen Warren over the last few weeks, as this was the best he’s looked in a long time. It’s not surprising that it came in a game where the Steelers’ OL also looked much better, and Najee was quick to credit them after the game.
Najee Harris credits the Steelers OL for the ream’s big rushing day pic.twitter.com/HstiikNs3C
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 13, 2022
Najee had a 35-yard run where he looked like the 1st round pick out of Alabama that Pittsburgh thought they were getting last year.
This is what Najee Harris is supposed to look like https://t.co/YvsEZ1rG7e
— Bryce Hayes (@nxtprodigy) November 13, 2022
He also took a hit to the head at the end of the play, and was down on the sideline for a few seconds. It must have looked much worse than it was, because after going to the tent and taking a few plays off he was back in there on the Steelers’ next drive. He still doesn’t always hit holes hard – he usually runs it to the line of scrimmage, dances, then gets tackled for 2-3 yards more often than not. But when he runs with a full head of steam into the line, look out, and he did much more of that today. Najee was also targeted on a wheel route in the end zone but the ball was just out of his reach. It’s a shame he was one yard short of 100 yards – likely a three-point bonus for anyone in DFS and some yearly leagues as well, and sure enough he did have a run called back on a penalty in this game. Still though, it was great to see him finally look like he’s capable of holding down a starting gig for this Steelers team.
Jaylen Warren also played well, and he continues to look like a legitimate RB in this league. He’s got great burst and fantastic athleticism. He should probably be rostered in most leagues.
Jaylen Warren : 9 carries for 37 yards & 3 catches for 40 yards pic.twitter.com/44Hwcn6tsN
— Lee Harvey (@MusikFan4Life) November 13, 2022
Jaylen Warren playing bigger than his size pic.twitter.com/ID1ReQbAmo
— Bob Pompeani (@KDPomp) November 13, 2022
Wide Receiver/Tight End
George Pickens: 2 Carries, 23 Yards, TD | 4 Targets, 3 Receptions, 32 Yards
Steven Sims: 2 Carries, 2 Yards | 2 Targets, 1 Reception, 15 Yards
Diontae Johnson: 5 Targets, 4 Receptions, 63 Yards
Pat Freiermuth: 7 Targets, 4 Receptions, 36 Yards
Connor Heyward: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 9 Yards
Gunner Olszewski: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 4 Yards
Zach Gentry: 1 Target
George Pickens had two targets on the Steelers’ first drive, catching one. On the Steelers’ second drive, he went in motion then took a quick handoff and immediately dove upfield for a one-yard rushing TD.
George Pickens out there looking like rookie year Chase Claypool
1st career rushing TD
pic.twitter.com/YXN2eyyII5— Mojo Fantasy (@mojo) November 13, 2022
Other than Pickens, this was honestly a really quiet day for this group. Diontae Johnson did the most damage, though he did have one play where he caught a ball for a first down, then ran backward about four yards and was tackled a yard short of the marker. Luckily for Johnson, the Steelers would go on to convert third and short, but it was still a questionable decision for the young WR nonetheless.
Pat Friermuth had a target in the end zone and an incredible one-handed catch that I somehow can’t find a GIF of. Trust me, it was awesome.
Steven Sims had a 15-yard catch and run on a screen that made me think “Boy, I wish they had Calvin Austin to run that play instead.” Austin, with his speed, likely would have broken it for a much longer gain.