The Pittsburgh Steelers held a narrow 13-10 lead over the New Orleans Saints heading into halftime of Sunday's game at Stade de France in Paris, France.
The historic game marks the first time the NFL has played a game in France, giving both franchises an opportunity to be part of league history.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring with a 28-yard field goal from Chris Boswell on the opening drive before New Orleans responded with a field goal of their own early in the second quarter, a 38-yarder from Daniel Carlson. Aaron Rodgers then found tight end Darnell Washington for a four-yard touchdown, capping off a 77-yard drive to give the Steelers the lead. But the Saints answered immediately, with Tyler Shough hitting Devaughn Vele on a short touchdown with under two minutes left. Boswell then knocked through a 47-yard field goal at the end of the half to give the Steelers the 3-point lead.
The stakes are high for both teams. Pittsburgh entered at 4-2 and was chasing its third straight win, while New Orleans entered at 2-4 and hoped to build on last week's win over the Giants before heading into their Week 8 bye.
But attention quickly shifted back to Rodgers, who moved into third place on the NFL's all-time regular-season touchdown passing list. The play with Washington marked his 540th regular season touchdown pass in his career, which moved him past Peyton Manning, who finished his career with 539. He now trails only Tom Brady, with 649, and Drew Brees, with 571.
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Rodgers has already built a Hall of Fame career. Drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 2005, he spent 18 seasons with the team, won Super Bowl XLV, and was named Super Bowl MVP that game. He's won four NFL MVP awards, earned 10 Pro Bowl nods, and has been named first-team All-Pro four times. His four league MVPs place him alongside Manning as one of just two players to win the award at least four times.
Rodgers also holds the record for most consecutive pass attempts without an interception, with 402, a mark he set in 2018. That year, he also set the record for the lowest interception percentage in a season, with 0.34%. He's been one of the league's most efficient passers throughout his career, leading the league in passer rating four times. He also ranks fifth all-time in career passing yards, with 67,761, behind only Brady (89,214), Brees (80,358), Manning (71,940), and Brett Favre (71,838).
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For Rodgers to surpass Brees' 571 mark on the all-time regular season touchdown list, he would still need 32 more before the end of this season, which is expected to be his last. That's not impossible, but with just 10 games remaining after this week, it seems unlikely. But regardless of how this season ends, he'll still go down as one of the game's all-time greats.