Path to Super Bowl goes through Dome with Saints victory

NEW ORLEANS -- Believe it or not, the New Orleans Saints are not in the medical profession.
Although you would think they were, as they have truly given their fans some very anxious moments over the past several weeks that has led to real chest pains.
And, that was certainly the case Sunday afternoon as the Saints returned home to play a game for the first time in over a month.
With New Orleans trailing 28-24 and 4:06 left to go in the game, the Saints put together a 10-play 46 yard drive, including a fourth down conversion, that was capped off with a two yard touchdown pass from Drew Brees to Michael Thomas to go up by a three points.
The only problem with that score, it allowed the Steelers once last chance at tying the game back up as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh offense still had 1:25 seconds left on the clock.
Needing to get into field goal range and having no time outs remaining, Roethlisberger guided the Steelers down to the New Orleans 42 yard line with 41 seconds to go.
On first and ten, Roethlisberger hit wide out JuJu Smith-Schuster on a crossing route. Trying to pick up more yardage, Smith-Schuster was knocked down by defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, who knocked the ball loose, allowing Saints’ linebacker Demario Davis the chance to recover the ball and seal the win.
With that win, New Orleans clinches the No. 1 seed in the NFC and will retain home field advantage throughout the playoffs. That also means the Saints will also get a first round bye and will have the opportunity to heal up before their first playoff game.
“It feels good to know that no matter what, everything runs through here,” Rankins said. “We are confident what we can do in this building.”
“We expected it to be something that was hard fought,” Payton said. “We ended up winning it in the fourth quarter. The momentum kind of shifted obviously. We had it early. They had it most of the second half, and then we were able to get it back and secure the win.”
Brees finished the game with 326 yards and one touchdown on 27 of 39 passing. The New Orleans rushing game could not get much going, as the dynamic duo Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara only accounted for 58 rushing yards.
But, in the end it was a team effort that sealed the deal for the Saints. Despite giving up 380 yards and three touchdowns to Roethlisberger, the New Orleans defense showed why they have led the NFL in total defense over the past seven weeks, as they held the Steelers to only 65 yards rushing and recorded two turnovers.
On top of that, the Saints’ special teams came up big once again this week. First and foremost, with Pittsburgh facing a fourth and five situation at their 42-yard line, head coach Mike Tomlin gambled by faking the punt and trying to run the ball up the middle with Roosevelt Nix.
Nix looked like he was going to make the first down, but Craig Robertson and Chris Banjo wrapped him up just short of the line to gain, giving the ball back to the Saints for what would be the winning drive.
Secondly, kicker Will Lutz’ performance this year has been phenomenal. The third year veteran’s 43-yard field goal in the second quarter broke Morten Anderson’s record for consecutive field goals in a season. Lutz is now 28 for 30 in field goal attempts this season.
New Orleans jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the first quarter when Ingram dove over left tackle for a one yard touchdown run.
Pittsburgh cut the lead down to 7-6 on a Chris Boswell 30 yard field goal early in the second quarter. However, New Orleans answered in a big way with a eight yard touchdown run by Kamara that gave the Saints a 14-6 lead.
Pittsburgh tied the game at 14-14 later in the quarter when Roethlisberger hit Jaylen Samuels on a three-yard touchdown pass. The Steelers tied the game, as Roethlisberger’s two-point pass was complete to Eli Rogers.
New Orleans mounted one last drive toward the end of the first half, allowing Lutz to connect on his record setting field goal and giving the Saints a 17-14 lead heading into the locker room.
New Orleans looked as if they may begin to pull away from the Steelers when they scored on the first drive of the third quarter. Kamara’s one yard plunge gave New Orleans a semi-comfortable 24-14 lead.
However, Pittsburgh, who was fighting for their playoff lives would not go away easily. The Steelers picked apart the Saint defense for the remaining 9:47 of the third quarter, scoring two touchdowns, both passes from Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown, to take a 28-24 lead.
That lead lasted until the turnover on downs which led to the final New Orleans score.
The Saints host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday and then will await the results of the first round of the playoffs to see who they will match up with in two weeks.