Coming off of their best rushing performance of the 2026 season, the New Orleans Saints are looking to continue the success of a week ago when they face the Pittsburgh Steelers in Paris.
New Orleans (2-4) rushed for 175 yards in their 34-27 win against the New York Giants’ No. 26-ranked run defense which played a vital role in capturing their second win of the season. That helped the Saints’ offense to achieve the statistical balance that had been lacking in recent weeks.
That will again be an important element of the team’s Week 7 game against Pittsburgh.
New Orleans has found its best ground-game success in weeks wherein the team has success in two areas: man rushing snaps and quarterback runs.
The Saints’ best rushing performances have come against the Giants and in Week 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders when they ran for 148 rushing yards. In both games quarterback Tyler Shough had breakaway scrambles and the team had its highest percentage of man rushing snaps, per FTN Fantasy.
Succeeding in man blocking schemes counteracts the popular trends around the NFL, but has allowed the team to establish a more physical rushing attack.
Against the Raiders, the Saints ran 50% of the time behind man blocking while in Week 6, they did so on 34.2% of their rushing attempts. Twice this year (Weeks 1 and 5) the team was charted without any running snaps against man. In Week 2, they clocked their third-highest share with 21.4%.
Offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier went into Week 6 hoping to carry over the team’s physicality displayed in Week 5 on its 15-play touchdown drive.
“I think the physicality of our runs,” said Nussmeier, when asked what worked on the Week 5 drive. “I think the backs getting downhill, they ran hard and we got creative movement. Guys cut out of some gaps, and that’s what you’re looking to do in the run game.”
There’s no better way to establish a physical brand on the ground than through man blocking. That’s focused on blockers attacking the defender opposite them rather than moving into areas of the field to protect like in zone blocking.
The method encourages a physical and aggressive approach, one that Nussmeier saw translated into Week 6.
“The numbers don’t lie,” he said. “The biggest thing, six explosive runs, and we talked about it. In order to keep the game in balance, you’ve got to be able to establish the line of scrimmage, and we were able to do it in the game, and it was a big key to victory for us.”
New Orleans hopes to maintain its success against Pittsburgh, which could allow for a similar balance for the team. Establishing that foundation should give the Saints the ability to continue supporting their passing game and take some pressure off of Shough when he drops back.
