For a second straight week, the New England Patriots are set to hit the road. In an effort to improve to 4-2 on the year following their impressive 23-20 upset over the Buffalo Bills, the team of head
coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Drake Maye will travel to New Orleans to take on the 1-4 Saints.
The game might not have the same high-stakes aura of last Sunday’s primetime clash between two division rivals, but the 1 p.m. ET kickoff will still provide plenty of intrigue and another data point to find out just how good these Patriots actually are. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at three of the main storylines heading into Week 6.
Trap game?
Their last two games are among the Patriots’ most impressive displays in quite a while. Before taking down the Bills, they dismantled the Carolina Panthers in a 42-13 blowout that saw contributions from all three phases. Now winners of back-to-back games for the first time since 2022 a a result, the team is naturally flying high.
What it cannot allow to happen, however, is to fly too close to the sun. And going up against a one-win team such as the Saints, that seems like a distinct possibility: Sunday’s game has “trap” written all over it, which is why veteran wide receiver Stefon Diggs labeled the contest as potentially “a bigger test” than last week’s in Buffalo.
Replacing Antonio Gibson
The Patriots suffered their first major injury of the season on Sunday. Running back and kickoff returner Antonio Gibson remained down after a runback in the second quarter, and was subsequently diagnosed with a torn ACL that will keep him out for the remainder of the season.
Now, the Patriots are tasked with replacing him on both offense and special teams. At running back, Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson will take the bulk if not all of the snaps with Gibson out. Promoting or elevating Terrell Jennings from the practice squad to provide additional depth behind the top two is a move that looks like it is bound to happen.
The kick returner role is another concern. The Patriots turned to Stevenson to fill Gibson’s role against Buffalo, but they might be tempted to prepare a different option with more lead-up time.
Run game woes
While he played a relatively minor role compared to Stevenson and Henderson, losing Gibson for the year still does not make the Patriots getting their running game going any easier. Five weeks into the season, they are ranked 28th in yards per attempt (3.7), 31st in success rate (30.6%), and 32nd in expected points added per run (-0.283).
“It’s got to be better,” said head coach Mike Vrabel this week. “It has to be better at the line of scrimmage, at the second level, and then continue to try to finish to break some of these. And we’ve had some good runs, just not enough of them; not enough double-digit runs that help your average. I think that we’ve got to stop talking about being one guy away or one block away. I think that was a big theme from last week, and that’ll have to fix.”
Unfortunately for the Patriots, the circumstances this week — both internally and in regards to the Saints’ defensive strengths — make for a challenging environment. New England suddenly kick-starting its ground game on Sunday would be a pleasant surprise.
