Steelers Beat Saints 16-10 in NFL's First France Game, 78,488 Attend Despite Calls From Trump and Others to Postpone

The open question heading into Sunday was whether the Steelers-Saints game would actually be played after a Saturday of protests and violence in France. It was. Pittsburgh won 16-10 at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, the first NFL game ever played in France, with 78,488 in attendance.

Kickoff came at 2:30 p.m. Paris time (9:30 a.m. ET), as the league had planned for months. Stade de France was near capacity at kickoff, and security was heavier than at perhaps any NFL regular-season game before, according to Fox News.

How the game went

The Steelers improved to 5-2. The Saints fell to 2-5.

Pittsburgh won on the ground and on third down. Jaylen Warren ran for 101 yards on 18 carries, many on third and short, and the Steelers converted 10 of 16 third-down attempts. Chris Boswell kicked field goals of 28, 47 and 38 yards.

New Orleans managed 18 rushing yards on 17 carries. Tyler Shough threw an interception that ended a good-looking drive to start the second half, with the Saints trailing just 13-10. He finished 30 of 38 for 278 yards and a 1-yard touchdown pass to Devaughn Vele.

Daniel Carlson hit a 38-yard field goal for the Saints but missed from 52 yards in the fourth quarter. Aaron Rodgers, 42, was 19 of 30 for 212 yards and a touchdown. Carl Granderson and Chase Young combined for 1.5 sacks of Rodgers.

The Saints lost running back CJ Donaldson to a shoulder injury in the first half. Safety Justin Reid was ruled out with a concussion just before halftime. New Orleans now takes its bye week, then hosts the Cleveland Browns on Nov. 8 at the Caesars Superdome.

The decision to play

The game went ahead despite a stretch in which unrest forced the cancellation of a Steelers fan event and the shuttering of Saturday's three official fan events planned by the NFL, the Steelers and the Saints. Paris Saint-Germain also rescheduled its Saturday match to Monday because of the unrest.

Asked by OutKick whether it still expected to play, the NFL answered with one word: "Yes."

President Trump said otherwise on Friday outside the White House. "Well, you worry about it," he told reporters. "I would have said the NFL could have probably postponed that match, if you want to know ... because France is really in trouble." He blamed France's politics, saying: "That's what happens when you go left. That's what happens when you allow unlimited numbers of people into your country from very unfriendly countries."

The league's officials took the opposite view all week. Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday that his comfort level was "very high." He added: "Protests are not unusual in France, as you know... We're guests in the country. We're going to be good guests."

Goodell said he had spoken with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio confirmed the call and told OutKick and Fox News: "Our embassy feels the game will be fine. We have no indication the game will be impacted in any way."

NFL executive vice president Peter O'Reilly said the league had contingencies for doing something else if necessary, and that the league had "confidence in the plans both from an ops and security standpoint." The game was played as scheduled.

Security picture

Officials put the number of arrests across France at nearly 1,000 after Saturday's demonstrations, according to Fox News, and said police found potential weapons on some protesters. A separate report put the arrest figure at at least 1,800. Fox News reported it was unknown whether the game faced any credible security threat before kickoff, and that emails to the NFL's security department and the Paris police prefecture had not been answered by publication time.

The NFL said it had seen "no disruption or impact at league sites." The cancellations were at fan events, including the three official events planned for Saturday.

What comes next

Goodell, Saints owner Gayle Benson and Steelers owner Art Rooney II met French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace on Friday. The Saints said the meeting was to discuss Sunday's game and "the long-term future of the NFL in France."

The outcome of that discussion has not been announced, and the NFL's future in France remains an open question after a week of closed fan events and a rescheduled soccer match.