Fresh off their Sunday home win over the New England Patriots the Pittsburgh Steelers will now face another tough test on the road against the 12-2 New Orleans Saints. As expected, the Saints open Tuesday as the consensus favorites and by 6.5-points, according to vegasinsider.com.
The Saints are coming off a short week of sorts as they played and beat the Carolina Panthers Monday night on the road 12-9. In the win, Saints quarterback Drew Brees completed 23 of his 35 total pass attempts for 203 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. Running backs Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram combined to rush for 130 yards on 26 carries and a touchdown against the Panthers and wide receiver Michael Thomas caught 7 passes for 49 yards.
For the season, Brees has completed 74.9% of his pass attempts for 3,666 yards with 31 touchdowns and just 5 interceptions. He’s also only been sacked 15 times this season. Kamara leads the Saints in rushing entering Week 16 with 860 yards and 12 touchdowns and Thomas leads the team in receiving with 109 catches for 1,267 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Defensively for the Saints, linebacker Demario Davis leads the unit in total tackles with 103. Davis also has 4 sacks on the season to go along with 2 forced fumbles and 4 passes defensesd. Defensive end Cameron Jordan leads the Saints in sacks with 12 entering Week 16 and defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins is behind him with 8 sacks. 8 different Saints players have combined to register 12 interceptions so far this season. Cornerback Marshon Lattimore leads the team in passes defensed with 11 and in addition to his 2 interceptions he’s also forced a team-high 4 fumbles.
The Saints are 5-1 at home so far this season and they averaged 38-points scored in those 6 games. They were 7-1 at home last year during the regular season with their only loss coming in Week 2 to the Patriots.
The Saints and the Steelers have met each other 15 times with New Orleans winning 8 of those games and Pittsburgh the other 7. The Steelers are 4-5 in games played in New Orleans and they last played and lost there in 2010. The Steelers last win over the Saints in New Orleans happened in 1990.
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