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Saints put up little fight in 20-10 loss to Steelers

Andy Dalton was 17-of-27 for 174 yards and one touchdown with two picks. The entire team had 29 rushing yards on 15 carries.

NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Saints loss to a struggling Pittsburgh team was a microcosm of the team’s problems all season long – debilitating injuries, costly penalties and missed tackles doomed them Sunday in a 20-10 loss as the season continues to slowly dissolve into irrelevancy.

"(The) performance wasn't good in all phases," said head coach Dennis Allen. "We didn't play well enough, didn't coach well enough."

At 3-7, the Saints would be all but irrelevant in every division but the NFC South, but a two-game win streak by Tampa will make things infinitely tougher and quite frankly most people who still have hope could only be considered the world’s biggest optimists.

Missing three key offensive linemen in Erik McCoy, Andrus Peat and rookie Trevor Penning, the Saints lost tackle James Hurst to a concussion on a day when the Steelers got All-Pro T.J. Watt back. The result was an anemic output of less than 200 total yards of offense.

Andy Dalton was 17-of-27 for 174 yards and one touchdown with two picks. The entire team had 29 rushing yards on 15 carries.

"The last two weeks we haven't been able to run the ball and that's hurt us," said Dalton. 

Asked about a possible quarterback change after the game, Allen said it was not something he was even thinking about so quickly after the game ended.

For Pittsburgh, it was a run game that led the way. The Steelers longest run through eight games was 19 yards. They had four that exceeded that length Sunday.

In all they had 42 carries for 219 yards – over five yards per tote.

The Saints also had 10 penalties for 74 yards.

Despite the problems, the Saints were tied at 10 at halftime, but the second half was a horror show for the Saints offense. The five drives went punt, punt, interception, turnover on downs and interception.

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