The Saints Play the NFL's First Regular-Season Game in Paris on Sunday. Here's When to Set the Alarm.

French colonists founded New Orleans in 1718. This Sunday, the Saints find out how that plays in France itself.

The Saints will host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Oct. 25, at the Stade de France, the national stadium in Saint-Denis on the northern edge of Paris. According to the team's ticket page, it's the NFL's first regular-season game in Paris. New Orleans is the designated home team, so this goes down as one of its home dates, even though it's being played about 4,800 miles from the Superdome.

For folks back home, the clock is what matters. Kickoff is at 2:30 p.m. in Paris, which works out to 9:30 a.m. Eastern and 8:30 a.m. here in Louisiana. The Saints' schedule has the game on NFL Network and WDSU. It's also the first game of the day on the league's Week 7 schedule, kicking off hours before anything else. Coffee and beignets suit that time slot just fine. Cracking open a cooler at that hour would take some nerve.

The Saints head overseas in a better mood than they were in a week ago. The season started with a 30-31 overtime loss at Detroit, followed by a 24-17 win at Baltimore. Then came three straight home losses at the Superdome: 35-27 to Las Vegas, 45-24 to Atlanta on a Monday night and 23-13 to Minnesota on Oct. 11. That dropped them to 1-4.

They finally broke through on Sunday. The Saints beat the Giants 34-27 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, snapping the losing streak and getting to 2-4. Early on, it looked grim. New York was up 10-0 late in the first half. Daniel Carlson's 58-yard field goal cut it to 10-3, and then special teams player Isaiah Stalbird forced a fumble on the kickoff, which set up a tying touchdown just before the break. Counting that field goal, according to the team's scoring summary, New Orleans put up 34 straight points. Tyler Shough threw touchdown passes to Bryce Lance, Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave and ran one in himself. The Giants answered with the last 17 points, so the finish got more nervous than anybody would have liked.

Kellen Moore is the head coach and Shough is the quarterback. The team's preview singles out running back Travis Etienne Jr., receiver Chris Olave, tight end Juwan Johnson, linebacker Kaden Elliss and edge rusher Carl Granderson as the players to watch.

Pittsburgh brings names most fans will recognize. Mike McCarthy coaches the Steelers, and Aaron Rodgers is under center. The same preview counts running back Jaylen Warren, receiver DK Metcalf, linebackers Patrick Queen and T.J. Watt and cornerback Jalen Ramsey among their key players. The Steelers come in at 4-2 after a 26-19 overtime win at Tampa Bay on Sunday.

These two don't see much of each other. They play in different conferences and have met just 17 times, with New Orleans holding a 9-8 edge. They've never met in the playoffs. The last meeting was on Nov. 13, 2022, in Pittsburgh, and the Steelers won that one 20-10.

Saint-Denis is a long way from Poydras Street. The Stade de France opened in 1998 and is the largest stadium in the country, home most of the year to France's national soccer and rugby teams. For one Sunday it gets a gridiron and a Saints sideline, plus a crowd with some Louisiana travelers mixed in. The team has sold Paris travel packages through its ticket office, and if you have questions, you can call 504-731-1700.

Paris also scrambles the calendar. The schedule has the Saints' bye the following week, so after the Steelers you get two weekends without football. Next up is Cleveland back at the Superdome on Nov. 8, at noon. Then Carolina comes to town on Nov. 15.

You'll hear a lot about the French connection this week, and some of it is earned. Many of the French Quarter's street names came from France, and so did the fleur-de-lis on the helmet. Some families in south Louisiana still speak French at home. None of it will block for Shough, though. A breakfast kickoff against a 4-2 Steelers team coming off an overtime win is a hard ask for a club that has struggled at home. But the Saints get on the plane having just won in New Jersey, and they'll take that over the way things felt a week ago.

If you're watching from Louisiana, set that alarm for Sunday morning. If you're in the stands in Saint-Denis, you'll be the ones teaching the Parisians "Who Dat."

Photo: Guilhem Vellut, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.