Pats Pulpit
Stringing wins together has not been the New England Patriots’ forte over the last few seasons, but the 2025 version of the team has managed to do just that. Sunday’s 25-19 victory over the Saints in New Orleans was their third in a row, a feat not seen around these parts of the country since 2022.
As with every game, there is plenty to be learned. Here are our 10 takeaways from this week’s contest.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there, buddy!
Granted, comparing anybody to the greatest quarterback of all time, especially a second-year quarterback making his 18th career start, is at best blasphemous and at worst delusional. However, there is no denying that Maye might have done his best Tom Brady impression to date on Sunday.
The Brady-like stat line is one thing — 18-for-26, 261 yards, 3 TDs — but what stood out is that Maye simply took control of the offense and never let go. He made smart decisions with the ball, spread it around well, and executed at a high level despite not having much if any support from the running game. In fact, Maye ended as the team’s leading rusher with 32 non-kneel-down yards.
It did not matter. The 2024 first-round draft pick, just like Brady so often did during his two-decade tenure in New England, kept putting the unit on his back and leading it to another overall successful performance.
“Drake, I think, he trusts all of us,” said wide receiver Kayshon Boutte after the game. “I think that’s the biggest thing in an efficient offense, just the quarterback trusting his receivers to make plays and sometimes when we’re not open and when the coverage is clouded, he makes plays himself too. We trust that he can run with the ball, get the first [down] like he did — he did get a couple firsts in critical situations.”
Unless you are the Lamar Jackson-led Baltimore Ravens or the prime-Cam Newton Carolina Panthers, your quarterback ending the game as your leading rusher is never a good sign. On Sunday, it wasn’t. While Drake Maye had some positive moments on scramble drills, the running game itself remained a major issue for the Patriots.
Excluding Maye’s four scrambles and three kneel-downs for a combined 26 yards, New England gained only 47 yards on 24 runs versus the Saints for an abysmal average of under 2.0 yards per carry. The offense operating like that is simply not sustainable.
Looking purely at his numbers, one might say that Rhamondre Stevenson had a disappointing game. He carried the ball 13 times but managed to gain just 18 total yards. However, playing running back, especially in a Josh McDaniels offense, is more than just taking handoffs: pass protection is also a vital part, and Stevenson looked good in that area.
The Patriots’ game-clinching 3rd-and-11 conversion...
