The Pittsburgh Steelers made history last year by playing in the NFL’s first regular-season game in Ireland. They’ll be in a similar situation this year, too, set to face the New Orleans Saints in the league’s first game in France. While it’s an exciting occasion, Chris Simms thinks it falls flat compared to the rest of the NFL’s 2026 international slate.
“I think this is the greatest international slate of games we’ve ever put out there,” Simms said Wednesday on his Unbuttoned podcast. “Rivalry to start the year? Rams-49ers, [Kyle] Shanahan’s pissed that the Rams have been begging to make the 49ers play one of these international games… Ravens and Cowboys in Brazil? I’d be shocked if there aren’t fireworks in that football game.
“Even Colts-Commanders, and the Colts and what they can be, and Jayden Daniels, I’m expecting healthy, awesome Jayden Daniels again. The two games with the Jaguars, the Eagles and the Texans are coming? That’s awesome. Both of those games, two weeks in a row in London, are going to be great. I know they had to do the Fleur-de-Lis in Paris, so you’ve got Pittsburgh coming to town. That, to me, is probably the most underwhelming matchup of all of these right here.”
On paper, Steelers-Saints doesn’t look like an all-star matchup. It’s May, and the Steelers still don’t even know who their starting quarterback will be this season. Meanwhile, the Saints went 6-11 last year and finished last in the NFC South.
There aren’t a lot of people projecting either team to go far in 2026, even if the Steelers re-sign Aaron Rodgers. However, this game won’t be played until Week 7 at the end of October. There’s a lot of time between now and then.
Perhaps the Steelers and Saints will surpass people’s expectations to start the year. Even if neither of them looks like Super Bowl contenders at that point, they could still give Paris an exciting game. The Steelers managed to have a fun matchup with the Minnesota Vikings in Ireland last year.
Also, some of those other international games could end up falling flat. Injuries happen, and sometimes, teams disappoint. Look at the Baltimore Ravens last year. They entered the season as Super Bowl contenders but they didn’t even make the playoffs.
There are some fun storylines for Steelers-Saints, too. For example, Saints head coach Kellen Moore was the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive coordinator for the first three years of Mike McCarthy’s tenure as head coach there. While there is no indication of bad blood between Moore and McCarthy, it should still be interesting to see them duke it out as equals.
Maybe Simms will be correct, and the Saints and Steelers will struggle to give Paris a show. However, it’s a little early to completely write that game off. It could’ve been much worse, too. Rumors suggested that the Cleveland Browns were going to be the Saints’ opponent in France. No matter what you think of the Steelers, they look like they’re going to be more exciting than the Browns.