What we learned: Best and worst from Patriots’ 25-19 Week 6 win over Saints

NEW ORLEANS The Patriots proved Sunday that they can beat a bad group with a one-dimensional offense It might not be so easy in the future The Patriots outlasted the Saints - in the Superdome on Sunday afternoon off of a tremendous first-half performance from quarterback Drake Maye to improve to - on the season But the Patriots run contest continues to not only be non-existent It s actively hurting the Patriots offense The Patriots averaged EPA per play on passes and - EPA per play on the ground The Patriots were able to drain the clock with a five-play -yard drive They had a key challenge before the two-minute warning that decided that wide receiver Kayshon Boutte stayed in bounds on a -yard catch to drain the clock That allowed quarterback Drake Maye to kneel on the ball and end the match On the first play of the encounter the Saints identified a weakness in the Patriots secondary The Patriots blitzed cornerback Carlton Davis III leaving safety Kyle Dugger on an island against Saints wide receiver Chris Olave who beat him for a -man catch The Patriots then shut down the Saints offense and forced a field goal The Patriots responded fast picking up a first down on a completion to Kayshon Boutte before quarterback Drake Maye hit wide receiver DeMario Douglas on a -yard bomb for a touchdown Douglas put a move on Saints safety Jonas Sanker to get into the end zone The Saints responded with another field goal after a -play -yard drive to cut the Patriots lead to - The Patriots scored again on an incredible contested catch from Kayshon Boutte for a -yard touchdown That was in spite of an atrocious penalty called by the functionaries on wide receiver Stefon Diggs for pass interference Maye completed a -yard touchdown to wide receiver DeMario Douglas A flag was thrown when the Patriots were already celebrating in the corner of the end zone negating the points The Saints cut the Patriots lead again to - on a -yard touchdown run from joker Taysom Hill The Saints drove yards on plays after rookie kicker Andy Borregales was penalized for failing to kick the ball into the landing zone The Patriots turned the ball over on downs when they went for it on fourth-and- from the Saints -yard line A botched snap from center Garrett Bradbury recovered by Maye gave the Saints the ball on the Patriots -yard line They were held to a field goal but took a - lead Maye finished the half with a perfect passer rating and hit Boutte for another touchdown yards down the field Maye scored on a two-point conversion to give the Patriots a - lead heading into the half The Patriots increased their lead to - when Borregales hit a -yard field goal Issues in the red zone and in the running championship caused the Patriots to settle for the field goal The two teams exchanged punts for the first time all championship Cornerback Marcus Jones who had a key pass breakup on the previous drive forced a -yard field goal with a third-down sack The kick from Blake Grupe was good cutting the Patriots lead to - The Patriots were forced to punt after specific very questionable officiating then got the ball back on a forced fumble by Christian Elliss and a recovery by rookie safety Craig Woodson They weren t able to do anything with it and punted on a three-and-out BEST QB Drake Maye Maye had a near-perfect first half and finished -of- for yards with three touchdowns WR Kayshon Boutte Welcome back to Louisiana Kayshon Boutte The LSU product and Louisiana native caught five passes for yards with two touchdowns WR DeMario Douglas The diminutive slot receiver should have finished Sunday s contest with two touchdowns but refs bizarrely called back a -yard tally for a phantom pass interference penalty on Diggs Still Douglas was running great after the catch and caught three passes for yards with a touchdown WORST S Kyle Dugger Dugger led up a -yard pass on the first play of the championship to wide receiver Chris Olave The playcall from interim defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr can also be questionted since he blitzed Davis leaving Dugger filling in for injured safety Jaylinn Hawkins on an island NFL leaders The offensive pass interference penalty was not only a terrible call but it was also incredibly late calling into question what they saw and why they threw the flag They also badly missed an obvious defensive pass interference penalty on a deep ball to Mack Hollins after flagging Diggs on a ticky-tack offensive pass interference on the previous play C Garrett Bradbury A bad snap on fourth down caused the Patriots to turn the ball over on downs on fourth down in the second quarter WHAT WE LEARNED Wide receiver Efton Chism made his NFL debut but didn t see any offensive snaps He was used as a kick returner punt returner and on special teams Cornerback Christian Gonzalez looked no worse for wear after being limited this week with his hamstring injury He went wire-to-wire When Harold Landry briefly went down with an injury the Patriots used defensive tackle Milton Williams as an edge defender rather than using a backup outside linebacker with Anfernee Jennings and Keion White both out with injuries Marcus Jones briefly got shaken up but played a very solid challenge with a key pass breakup and sack Give Christian Elliss credit for an impactful play punching out a ball leading to a Patriots fumble recovery midway through the fourth quarter Elliss Jack Gibbens Jahlani Tavai and Marte Mapu all saw snaps next to Robert Spillane The Patriots keep acknowledging they need to fix their run event That remains the development They averaged just yards per competition on the ground and can t spring a big play for the life of them