Patriots Should Beat The Saints

By Steve Atkinson 

The Patriots should definitely beat the Saints this Sunday, following their impressive victory against Buffalo last Sunday night. Drake Maye had the best game of his career, and Stefon Diggs showed a remarkable performance, particularly considering he is just a year removed from an ACL injury. That win was significant, but the team cannot afford to stumble against a struggling Saints squad. They should aim to win the next four games. Here’s what Mike Vrabel said on Wednesday:

You practice and attend meetings. You focus on a new opponent. We don’t really know this opponent, I would say. This is new for many players here, and possibly some coaches, regarding their personnel, their approach, and their skill players offensively. [Chris] Olave, [Rashid] Shaheed, and how good [Alvin] Kamara is. [Kendre] Miller is coming on and running as hard as he did. They’ve got all their tight ends available and up ready to go. We’ll have to understand the difference between [Juwan Johnson] and when Taysom [Hill]’s in the game or [Foster] Moreau, right on down the line. Defensively, it’s a big, physical front. I’ve always appreciated the way Demario Davis plays the game. Corners are active. Big, long, plays football, 24 PBUs on the season as a defense. They’re creating turnovers, and that was the difference in last week’s game

Drake Maye excels in the bootleg offense, particularly when he rolls to his right, a strategy he utilized numerous times on Sunday. The collaborative offense designed by Josh McDaniels and the rest of the coaching staff closely resembles the West Coast offense. It’s positive that Josh McDaniels is adapting the scheme to align with Drake Maye’s strengths.

Now, here’s what Drake Maye had to say about building momentum from the previous week’s strengths.

It’s huge. That one’s in the past; keep going. You’ve got to get back at it this week. It’s huge. It starts with just positive plays. Keep going, get the first down, and just keep staying ahead of the chains. I think we’ve done a good job when we stay ahead of the chains in scoring touchdowns and put another emphasis on scoring touchdowns in the red zone. I think we came up short a little bit last week. So, that’s kind of a big thing coming into practice on Friday. Then from there, get on it tomorrow for third down and just continue to watch them. It’s a different opponent. We don’t see them much, an NFC team, so just kind of try to get to know them and know that they’re at home. They’re going to want to play hard and force turnovers.

With Antonio Gibson out for the season, it’s up to Stevenson not to fumble and to be the reliable running back.