14. New Orleans Saints
It looked for a while as though the New Orleans Saints were going to suffer a loss in Week 1. They were down 26-10 in the fourth quarter, but then kicked it into another gear. Michael Thomas caught two touchdowns and then Will Lutz knocked it in from 51-yards out with 19 seconds to play to give them a 27-26 win.
Free agent addition Jarvis Landry was huge with 114 yards in seven receptions and Jameis Winston continued to deliver for New Orleans. They also had a big game from Taysom Hill, who ran a 57-yard touchdown.
Taysom Hill is still a problem.pic.twitter.com/EgJgVpYz3i
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) September 11, 2022
They should be happy they got the win but they did struggle with an offense that’s not too imposing, so they need to clean a few things up going forward.
13. Pittsburgh Steelers
Mike Tomlin cares not for the predictions. Once again, there were plenty of expectations for the Pittsburgh Steelers to struggle in 2021 after Ben Roethlisberger retired — which didn’t make a lot of sense considering Roethlisberger was a shell of himself the past two seasons. These predictions glossed over Tomlin’s insane resume, which includes 15 years of coaching without a losing record.
On Sunday, he made progress toward yet another positive campaign as they shocked the Cincinnati Bengals with a 23-20 overtime win. The Steelers’ defense forced Joe Burrow to turn it over five times and held the AFC champs to 20 points.
The defense was the key but there’s a serious issue as T.J. Watt suffered an injury that’s feared to have him out for most — if not all — of the season. That would test Tomlin’s coaching ability more than losing Big Ben while past his prime.