The New Orleans Saints lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-10 in the first NFL game ever played in France. Here are three things we learned.

The details

I’m not sure if this should fall in the “what we learned” category, since we already knew this. The Saints don’t do enough of the little things right to win games. Yeah, they have enough talent to give themselves a chance in most games. But the line between wins and losses in the NFL is a thin one, and the Saints do all the things that keep them on the wrong side of that line. Holding the Steelers to 16 points should be enough. But when you turn the ball over (Tyler Shough’s interception), can’t make field goals consistently (Daniel Carlson missed another one), can’t run the ball (more on this one coming) or stop the run, these are the results.

Still can’t run

Hopefully you didn’t fool yourself into thinking the Saints had fixed their rushing woes last week when they ran for 175 yards against the Giants. The Saints went back to being the team they have been most of the season with a non-existent running game against the Steelers. The Saints came into the game averaging just 3.8 yards per rush attempt. Sunday they were well under that, averaging a dismal 1.1 yards per carry. They finished the day with 18 rushing yards (on 17 carries). Tyler Shough’s 6-yard run in the third quarter was the Saints’ longest run of the day. An 8-yard run by 42-year old Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers was longer than anything the Saints had. You won’t win many games like that.

No momentum

The Saints go into their bye with a 2-5 record. It would have felt so much better being 3-4 on a two-game winning streak, especially in a weak NFC South. Now Kellen Moore and the Saints try to hit the reset button. The schedule doesn’t really lighten up as much as we first thought when the schedule came out. The Cleveland Browns, who come to the Superdome in two weeks after the bye, are much better than anyone thought. Then the Saints host last season’s division champion Carolina Panthers followed by back-to-back road trips to Chicago and Cincinnati. Things aren’t going to get any easier.