The New England Patriots stayed in the win column on Sunday as a trip down to the Superdome resulted in a 25-19 victory over the Saints.
Here is who caught our eye for better or worse upon live viewing.
Winners
QB Drake Maye: Another week, another excellent showing from the Patriots young gunslinger. Maye started Sunday with a perfect first half completing 11-of-13 passes for 185 yards and three TDs to produce a perfect 158.3 passer rating and +1.10 EPA/play (100th percentile). Starting the year as an elite,
low volume deep ball thrower, Maye unlocked the downfield area of the field going 4-of-5 for 128 yards and all three touchdowns. He also had over 100 downfield yards and a touchdown wiped out by highly questionable penalties and another in-the-bucket throw to Mack Hollins that should have drawn a DPI.
Maye then made key plays with his legs and arm — including a final third down back shoulder completion — to when they needed him to in the second half to secure the victory, while also not committing a turnover worthy play for the third straight week. The 23-year old is playing at an elite level.
WR Kayshon Boutte: Returning to Louisiana, Boutte was Maye’s top receiver on the day hauling in all five targets for 93 yards and a pair of scores. While Boutte worked through contact on both of his first-half scores, his best work may have been on the 21-yard back shoulder fade on third-and-11 to seal the win. Boutte worked through press coverage and adjusted well to the perfectly placed ball from Maye — even coming down in bounds to keep the clock running.
WR DeMario Douglas: Pop got things off to a fast start for the Patriots offense. Running the deep post off a half-boot action, Douglas turned the Saints deep safety, hauled in a pass downfield, and made the last man miss to get on the board with a 53-yard touchdown. Douglas then should have had another 61-yard score the next drive if not for a phantom pass interference penalty on Stefon Diggs. The shifty receiver had been making plays away from the football and as a blocker the last two weeks, and his efforts were rewarded down in New Orleans.
CB Marcus Jones: The Patriots captain finds himself in the ‘winners’ column for the third straight week with another impressive effort on the defensive side of the ball. Recording three pass breakups (including one in the end zone) and his first career sack, Jones became the first Patriot to do so in a single game since Richard Seymour in 2003. On the sack, Jones blitzed from the slot and beat Alvin Kamara allowing him to met Spencer Rattler after K’Lavon Chaisson forced the quarterback up in the pocket.
Losers
Run game: New England’s offensive ground game continued to struggle on Sunday and forced Maye and the passing attack to carry the load yet again. The Patriots top two running backs managed just 45 yards on 22 carries (2.05 YPA) behind a 38 percent success rate. Among those 22 attempts, New England was stuffed for no gain or a loss eight times. While Maye was sharp enough to get the job done, the Patriots must find a way to get better results in the running game.
Also of note: without Antonio Gibson, just Rhamondre Stevenson (41 snaps) and TreVeyon Henderson (17) saw time on offense. While work was tough to find on the ground, each back had keys moments in pass protection.
Referee Adrian Hill and crew: Yikes. It was a rough showing throughout the entire game from the officiating crew, and the pool report post game on the early Stefon Diggs OPI to negate Pop Douglas’ 61-yard touchdown left even more questions.
Other performances of note
- Quieter game for Stefon Diggs with just a 3/28 line after back-to-back 100-yard performances. But, his 14-yard gain on fourth down on New England’s final field goal drive shows his value even when he isn’t lighting up the box score.
- Along the offensive line, Maye was under pressure on 18 of 31 drop backs (58.1 percent). The QB handled it extremely well (10/16, career-high 177 yards), but the film will tell a better story about where the pressure was coming from — in addition to the run game struggles.
- For the second time this season, a bad snap by Garrett Bradbury put New England in a poor spot. This one came on fourth down which costed them 14 yards of field position.
- As a whole on defense, New England only allowed 19 points but started slow again surrendering points on their first four possessions. Playing more zone coverage than last week, Spencer Rattler found plenty of success against those looks (15/18, 194 yards) and when facing pressure — generating a first drive 53-yard completion to Chris Olave with Kyle Dugger rotating into coverage for a blitzing Carlton Davis.
- Another LSU alumni, K’Lavon Chaisson had five pressures with one helping play a role on Marcus Jones’ sack.
- Khyiris Tonga continues to be disruptive, at one point drawing a hold and a pressure on back-to-back plays.
- After a better performance in Buffalo, Christian Elliss had a pass breakup and then forced a key fumble late in the fourth quarter with a well-timed punch out.
- Efton Chism III and Terrell Jennings handled kick return duties in place of New England’s top running backs. Chism handled all five returns for 129 yards (25.8 average). In his debut, Chism also recorded a tackle on the opening kick.
