Saints Play of the Day: Alvin Kamara's smooth, clutch 31-yard pickup helped seal a win

Exactly one month from today, 31 days, the New Orleans Saints will kick off their 2025 regular season against the Arizona Cardinals. To celebrate, our Saints Play of the Day is a classic 31-yard pickup by Alvin Kamara to help set up a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. You can watch the play for yourself here.

Back in Week 16 of the 2018 season, New Orleans was riding high on a fantastic campaign and fighting for the best playoff seeding possible. They were 12-2, but would have a tough challenge ahead of them against a feisty Pittsburgh Steelers squad that was fighting for a spot in the playoffs. Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger were dueling it out in the twilight of their careers, each facing a solid defense. Brees threw an early interception, but the Saints defense did a good job in holding the Steelers to just a field goal.

New Orleans held a 14-6 lead early in the second quarter, but Pittsburgh tied the game with just 40 seconds left in the half. With no timeouts left, it looked like the game was going to head into the break at 14-14. But quick gains from Ted Ginn Jr. and Benjamin Watson gave the Saints a glimmer of hope.

That's when Kamara did what he did best and came up with an ultra-clutch catch-and-run. Brees delivered a pass to the back just past the line of scrimmage and then Kamara glided through (and past) defenders, managing to pick up 31 yards and getting out of bounds.

This set up a 43-yard field goal by Wil Lutz. New Orleans would go on to win the game 31-28, with those three points that Kamara helped pick up at the half proving crucial.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints Play of Day 31: Alvin Kamara's clutch 31-yard gain vs. Steelers