The New Orleans Saints (2-4) play the Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2) Sunday in Paris. Here are four key factors that will help determine if Saints win their second straight game.

Keep running

It took the Saints five games to finally get their running game going. They rushed for a season-high 175 yards in Sunday’s victory over the New York Giants. The big ground game allowed the Saints to vault from 29th in the NFL in rushing yards per game to 21st. They are still rushing for just 97.3 yards per game, but at least they took a step in the right direction. The trio of Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller and C.J. Donaldson all are different style runners and they can make things so much easier for the offense if they can get going. Staying out of second- and third-and-long situations would help.

Protect Shough

The Saints have to give quarterback Tyler Shough time to throw and not allow him to take too many hits. The Steelers sacked Buccaneers quarterback Jalon Daniels five times last week. And you never know where Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Patrick Graham is going to bring the pressure from. For example, Steelers cornerback Jalen Ramsey had two of the five sacks last week. Linebacker Nick Herbig also had two sacks. And that’s not even including the pressure that will surely come from T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. The Saints have to have big games from tackles Asim Richards and Tali Fuaga, who likely will need to get some help from the tight ends.

Slow down Rodgers

Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, 42, is the oldest player in the NFL. He doesn’t move around in the pocket quite the way he used to, so the Saints need to try to get in his face. Defensive ends Chase Young (5½ sacks) and Carl Granderson (4 sacks) have done a good  job of getting to the quarterbacks. It helps that linebacker Kaden Elliss is expected to return this week. Elliss has missed the last three games with a calf injury. His absence was noticeable. Rodgers has thrown or over 250 yards in three of his last four games. The Saints are 29th in yards allowed, so they can’t let Rodgers have a big game.

Put 4 quarters together

Yep. Still waiting for this one. The Saints have yet to play a complete game. It’s usually a slow start. Against the Giants, it was a slow start and a sluggish finish. Fortunately, they did enough in the middle to get a win. The Steelers are resilient, as they showed last week by erasing a 16-3 deficit. Things looked bleak for the Saints before the Giants game. They won that one and now have a chance to go into their bye week with back-to-back wins. Being 3-4 would sound so much better than 2-5, so they should play like a desperate team for four quarters.