The game in Paris between the Steelers and Saints will go on as scheduled Sunday. The NFL, though, said it will heighten security in light of the civil unrest in the French capital.
NFL executive Peter O’Reilly said Tuesday the league is coordinating with the U.S. State Department and Parisian and national authorities overseas.
“There’s nothing more important from our standpoint than the teams’ security, the fans’ security — everybody involved with this game,” O’Reilly said at the fall league meetings, via the Associated Press. “Obviously being very vigilant in everything we do, in all of our planning on an hour-by-hour basis, working closely with the two teams.”
Rioting erupted across France on Saturday as demonstrators protested rising living costs and declining public services. It was the country’s worst civil unrest in years, with violence and looting in major cities as rioters clashed with police.
The NFL did not consider moving the game, which is being played at Stade de France outside of Paris in Saint-Denis. It marks the NFL’s first game in France.
“We feel confident that we would not have any impact on the broader resources needed,” O’Reilly said. “That’s always top of mind for us, and we feel confident that we wouldn’t be depleting resources in a negative way around this game.”
The Saints flew to Paris after their victory over the Giants on Sunday. The Steelers will travel later this week.
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The NFL considered moving the Week 8 Eagles-Commanders game out of prime time. In the end, the NFL decided to stay put.
Via multiple reports, the rematch of the Week 1 game between NFC East rivals will be televised nationally by NBC and Peacock on Sunday night, November 1.
Rob Tornoe of the Philadelphia Inquirer, who first reported that the NFL was thinking about moving Eagles-Commanders out of the Sunday night spot, reports that the league strongly considered replacing it with Browns at Steelers.
In past years, there has been a rule requiring one of the two home-and-home games between division rivals to be televised on Sunday afternoon. The fact that the league considered moving Browns-Steelers to Sunday after their Week 4 game in Cleveland was played on Thursday night shows that, if the rule still exists, it’s more of a guideline.
Either way, it’ll be the 2-4 Eagles (who don’t have their starting quarterback) and the 1-4-1 Commanders instead of the 4-2 Browns and the 4-2 Steelers in a game that would have featured Mike Tomlin’s return to Pittsburgh and Cleveland’s reward for claiming first place in the AFC North after six weeks of the 2026 season.
Amid ongoing local unrest that has sparked full-blown riots, the NFL is pushing forward with its first-ever game in Paris.
Via Ken Maguire of the Associated Press, the Saints arrived on Monday for the Week 7 contest. The league, as Maguire explains it, hopes to stage a “mini-Super Bowl.” Which, of course, would only make the game and its associated events more enticing for disruption.
Among other things, an “NFL House” will open later this week, and the league will have other fan activities. The Saints have their own fan events planned.
The Steelers will make the trip on Thursday.
“You would hope that the NFL is not going to put us in any bad situations,” Steelers linebacker Cole Holcomb said, via Matt Press of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “So if they feel like it’s safe for us to go, we’ll go.”
Coach Mike McCarthy said the team has had a “meeting where they talked about potential concerns for the trip,” and that owner Art Rooney II “has been” involved in conversations regarding a contingency plan if the situation escalates and disrupts the game.
As to the simplest Plan B — playing the game in New Orleans — that ship presumably sailed once the Saints landed in France. The worst-case scenario at this point would possibly include moving the game to London, which is only 213 miles away from Paris as the croissant flies.
On Sunday, Giants running back Najee Harris expressed concern about the distribution of touches in the team’s ground game. He’ll now get none at all.
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Giants are releasing Harris.
In five games with one start in New York, Harris had 31 attempts for 99 yards. In Sunday’s loss to the Saints, Harris had four carries for two yards on 11 snaps.
Before the game, it was reported that Harris was expected to take on a larger role.
The framing of the report — that the Giants “are releasing” Harris — could be an effort to get someone to try to trade for his one-year, $1.215 million contract.
Either way, he’s out with the Giants. And it’s hard not to think it was a reaction to his candid criticism of the running game.
“It’s hard to get in a rhythm with one or two plays,” Harris said. “The first couple runs will be like, ‘OK, how are they playing it?’ And then the next ones will be, ‘OK, this is how you attack it.’ But if you’re getting a play here and then get taken out for a series, there’s nothing you could do. That’s why I’m saying, ‘I don’t know.’ I’ve never been through none of this before.”
A first-round pick in 2021, Harris had four straight 1,000-yard seasons in Pittsburgh. He tore an Achilles tendon after only three games with the Chargers in 2025, after an offseason fireworks mishap.
The Steelers are re-signing veteran wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Mike DeFabo of TheAthletic.com reports.
Valdes-Scantling, 31, will join the practice squad.
The Chargers released Valdes-Scantling over the weekend.
In five games with the Steelers last season, Valdes-Scantling caught 10 passes for 80 yards and a touchdown.
The Packers drafted him in 2018, Mike McCarthy’s final season in Green Bay, and Valdes-Scantling played four seasons with Aaron Rodgers. Valdes-Scantling caught 123 passes for 2,153 yards and 13 touchdowns in his time with Rodgers there.
The Steelers are without three of their top five wideouts. Michael Pittman Jr. (foot) is on injured reserve until at least Week 10; Roman Wilson (finger) is on injured reserve until at least Week 11; and Ben Skowronek is dealing with a calf injury.
Steelers fans overwhelmed Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, boosting the road team’s effort to overcome a 13-0 halftime deficit and a 16-3 fourth-quarter deficit.
Tackle Tristan Wirfs isn’t upset with Buccaneers fans for the lack of in-person support.
“Can you blame them?” Wirfs said, via JoeBucsFan.com. “You know, we’re 1-4 and haven’t really given them much to cheer about.
“So, yeah, it sucks. It sucks when you’re going damn near silent count at home. But you’ve got to give [fans] something to cheer for.”
The Bucs are now 1-5. And the fans didn’t have much to cheer for on Sunday, as the double-digit margin melted into a loss.
Wirfs was asked whether the failure to close out games is physical or mental.
“You know, I don’t really know, to be honest,” Wirfs said. “We’re up by 13 and, I don’t know. I don’t have anything. I’m not going to say anything right now. I don’t know what it is. It’s insanely frustrating. You know, to be up 13 at home. We haven’t won a fucking home game yet. And to not be able to finish out the game is really frustrating.”
The Bucs were on the brink of extending their winning streak to two before it all fell apart. Now, they’re all alone at the bottom of the NFC South with a 1-5 record, looking up at the 3-2 Panthers, the 2-4 Falcons, and the 2-4 Saints.
Next up, the Bucs face the Panthers in Carolina before the Falcons come to town. After that, it’s a Sunday night game in Chicago against the Bears.
If Tampa Bay is ever going to turn it around this season, the time is now. After starting the 2025 season at 6-2, the Bucs are 3-12.
After Sunday’s overtime win against the Buccaneers in Tampa, Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers had a formal complaint to file.
His grievance du jour centered on the quality of the grass field at Raymond James Stadium.
“It’s got to be one of the worst surfaces in the league,” Rodgers told reporters. “And, you know, we’re talking about player safety. You know, I’m very thankful to not get hurt. I’ve gotten hurt twice on this field. You know, in my opinion, because of the turf. Now, I know USF plays here, I believe. But that surface, you know, it’s . . . I don’t think it’s very safe.”
Not all grass fields are created equal. The grass vs. turf debate implies that the grass will be high quality. In Tampa, Rodgers believes it isn’t.
Last year, the quality of the grass on Rodgers’s home field in Pittsburgh was an issue — and Rodgers wasn’t afraid to say so, calling it “borderline unplayable.”
The issues in Pittsburgh apparently have been addressed. In Tampa, Rodgers thinks the same thing needs to happen.
The sideline medical tents in the NFL are in place for players, but they’re ocassionally needed for others over the course of a game and that was the case in Tampa on Sunday.
While the Steelers went into the locker room at halftime, head coach Mike McCarthy remained on the field and went to the tent. The CBS broadcast said that McCarthy was undergoing treatment for an ankle injury and McCarthy said at his postgame press conference that he was hurt when he got stepped on during the first half.
The Steelers trailed 13-3 at the break, but took the game to overtime and then won on Aaron Rodgers’s touchdown pass to wide receiver Germie Bernard in the extra period.
“They didn’t miss a beat,” McCarthy said. “Adjustments were made, and halftime’s quick, anyway. Frankly, the the biggest part was really just getting the offensive conversations to me when when the guys came out. I thought the guys did what they needed to do.”
McCarthy and the Steelers will now head to France to face the Saints and the coach will be hoping to avoid any trips to the tent on that side of the Atlantic.
Nothing was going right for the Steelers on Sunday. They trailed the Buccaneers 16-3 in the fourth quarter.
Pittsburgh won 26-19 in overtime.
The Steelers are 4-2 and the Bucs 1-5.
The Steelers dominated the fourth quarter, gaining 230 yards and forcing two Jalon Daniels interceptions. Their fourth-quarter scoring drives were 68, 24, 37 and 2 yards.
Chris Boswell’s 58-yard field goal tied the game 16-16 with 1:55 left. Two plays later, former Bucs cornerback Jamel Dean intercepted Daniels. Dean went 40 yards with the return of the errant pass before Daniels pushed him out of bounds at the Tampa Bay 3.
The Steelers couldn’t get it into the end zone, but Boswell’s 20-yard kick with 1:21 left gave the Steelers their first lead.
They left too much time for the Bucs, though, as Tampa Bay needed only a field goal to send the game to overtime.
With eight seconds left, Chase McLaughlin kicked a 53-yard field goal to tie it 19-19. It was McLaughlin’s fourth field goal of the day, with the others from 43, 47 and 52 yards.
The Steelers got the overtime kickoff, and Aaron Rodgers got his seventh overtime win with a 12-play, 70-yard drive that burned 6:45 of the 10-minute period. He threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Germie Bernard for the game-winner.
The Bucs drove across midfield, but on fourth-and-8 with 1:06 remaining, Jalen Ramsey sacked Daniels to end it. Ramsey had two sacks as did Nate Herbig.
The Bucs sacked Rodgers five times and frustrated him for most of the game. But he finished 33-of-49 for 253 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. DK Metcalf caught 11 passes for 93 yards, and Bernard had 11 catches for 87 yards and a touchdown.
The Steelers outgained the Bucs 300 to 224.
Daniels was 22-of-43 for 164 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
Aaron Rodgers threw his 538th career touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter. It has him within one of tying Peyton Manning for third on the all-time list.
It has the Steelers within 16-10 of the Bucs.
The Steelers drove 68 yards in eight plays for their first touchdown, a 5-yard throw by Rodgers to tight end Darnell Washington.
Pittsburgh had two big gainers on the drive: He hit DK Metcalf for a 17-yard gain on third-and-16, and then on the next play, Calijah Kancey was called for a roughing-the-passer penalty after a late shove sent the quarterback to the ground.
Rodgers is now 19-of-30 for 146 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
