Steelers Safety Jaquan Brisker Speaks On Playing In Paris Amid Civil Unrest

The Pittsburgh Steelers have rarely been involved in international games in the past. Now, however, they are preparing to fly to Europe for the second consecutive season. After a successful trip to Ireland in 2025, Pittsburgh will be the designated road team as it goes against the New Orleans Saints in Paris, France. Like the match in Dublin, this one will be the first regular season NFL game in its respective nation. It's usually a great time as people come together and celebrate this great sport introducing itself to a new group of people.

That may not entirely be the case here entirely this time around unfortunately. There is growing civil unrest in France that has led to concern across the NFL for the safety of its players and other members travelling to Paris, although league officials have said via numerous sources (including SteelerNation.com), that everything will continue on as planned.

The players are still at least somewhat aware of what's going on in Paris. During a media availability on Monday, safety Jaquan Brisker spoke about the circumstances leading up to this match.

"I’m going to go play the game, but from online, what I’ve seen, it looks crazy out there," Brisker said. "But, I guess everybody has a plan."

It's definitely a rough situation for the players, but hopefully, everything stays calm enough for both teams to have a safe, enjoyable time in France while being able to play the game as normal. There is still some worry, which is easy to tell from Brisker's comment, but that is typical whenever there is a situation like this going on. Teams will most likely do whatever they can to make sure the players can go through their routine and make it back home safely.

The Saints left for Paris on Sunday night, so they will be in the country for days before the Steelers arrive, it would not be surprising for the team brass in New Orleans to be in constant communication with Owner Art Rooney II and his brass to help ensure this trip goes as smoothly as possible. That should get relayed back to the players, who are clearly concerned about this civil unrest taking place. 

Either way, this should be an entertaining matchup. Despite being 2-4, the Saints are a very scrappy team that typically doesn't go down without a fight. The first two weeks display this the best, as they forced a comeback and took the Detroit Lions to overtime before upsetting the Baltimore Ravens on the road the next week. They're coming off of a strong win against the New York Giants as well, so they have momentum on their side.

Steelers Will Have Major Disadvantage Against Saints

Despite winning their last two games, the Steelers could easily lose momentum due to one problem: jet lag. The Saints will have the rest advantage due to the fact that they left for France on Sunday night, as mentioned before. Meanwhile, the Black and Gold brigade is still in Pittsburgh, where the interview with Brisker took place. The team will have a lot less time to recover from the flight there and get enough rest to be ready for the game.

While the Steelers maybe want to dodge the civil unrest as much as possible, that ended up not being the case the last two times they traveled. In both instances, they left on Thursday despite no known major national turmoil at the time. It worked this last time because they were able to get the Minnesota Vikings to leave at the same time, but that is not the case here in Week 7.

What do you think about Brisker's statement on playing in Paris amid unrest? Do you think the NFL has a legit plan and is prepared for the international trip amid the chaos? Let us know on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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