Patriots top Saints on the road for 3rd straight win

The New England Patriots improved to 4-2 on the 2025 season, finishing off a 25-19 win over the New Orleans Saints at the Superdome Sunday.

Quarterback Drake Maye continued his impressive streak for the Pats, completing 16 of 28 passes for 261 yards and three touchdown passes through the air. Maye has not turned the ball over during the course of the Patriots' three-game win streak. Saints' own second-year quarterback, Spencer Rattler, was an impressive 20-for-26 for 227 yards passing in the losing effort.

The Saints jumped on the Pats early, as Rattler hit receiver Chris Olave for a 53-yard gain on their first play from scrimmage. New England's defense held, though, as New Orleans settled for a 34-yard field goal, after having first-and-10 at the Patriots' 22-yard line.

Maye answered that first drive with authority, connecting with receiver DeMario Douglas for a 53-yard gain of their own, and this one went for a touchdown. That put the Pats up 7-3. The Saints cobbled together another decent drive on their second possession, but again finished with a field goal, this time for 48 yards, to make it a 7-6 game.

The Patriots responded to that second field goal with their second touchdown, but took an unusual route to the end zone.

Initially, the entire team -- and pretty much the entirety of people watching the game -- thought Maye had completed another long TD to Douglas. But the officials threw an egregiously late flag for offensive pass interference, and not even on Douglas but on Stefon Diggs, and for contact that showed no signs of interference on replay. Maye heaved up another throw out of bounds on the next snap, and the officials made what felt like an obvious make-up call for defensive pass interference, reimbursing the Pats 21 yards.

Five plays later, Maye hit Kayshon Boutte with a pinpoint throw in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown, putting the Patriots up 14-6 late in the first quarter.

It was on the Saints' next possession that they finally hit paydirt. They drove 60 yards in 11 plays, capped with a direct snap to tight end Taysom Hill that he shuffled in for a 1-yard touchdown, making it 14-13.

The Patriots lost the ball back to the Saints late in the second quarter after a disastrous sequence left them empty for more points. First, Rhamondre Stevenson went for no gain on an inside draw play called on third-and-7, then a rough snap by Pats center Garrett Bradbury forced Maye to fall on the ball for a loss of 14 yards on fourth down.

Rattler complete five straight passes for 25 yards at one point on the ensuing Saints drive, getting them into field goal range for yet another kick, this time putting them back in the lead at 16-14.

Given 1:46 to get more points before halftime, Maye only needed 1:20 to get his third touchdown of the day. Maye notably hit Hunter Henry for a 12-yard gain on a third-and-1 play, then Diggs for 11 yards, before going 29 yards to Boutte for the receiver's second score of the game. The Patriots also converted the 2-point try, getting back in the lead and extending it to six at 22-16.

The Patriots got the ball to start the second half, but had to settle for three in their double-score quest. Maye and the offense drove 55 yards in 12 plays, and rookie kicker Andres Borregales converted from an easy 24 yards to make it 25-16 Pats.

From there, the teams traded punts as the clock bled into the fourth quarter. The Saints picked up solid field position off the Patriots' first punt of the game late in the third, needing only 25 more yards to get into field goal range. A Marcus Jones sack off the corner blitz forced the kick, but the Saints' Blake Grupe answered the bell with a 54-yard conversion to cut the Pats' lead to 25-19.

The Patriots saved a critical moment of the fourth quarter for their first defensive takeaway. Saints tight end Juwan Johnson appeared at first to be down by contact before the ball came out after a catch-and-run, but the replay review determined that Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss had jarred the ball loose with a punch. That resulted in a successful challenge for Pats head coach Mike Vrabel and the game's first turnover.

After the teams traded punts again, the Patriots got the ball back still up six points with 3:43 left in regulation. Maye and Boutte connected one more time for a 21-yard gain on a key third-and-11 play, then Vrabel again successfully challenged and the officials ruled Boutte was down in bounds. That gave the Patriots a fresh set of downs and the clock down to two minutes with the Saints out of timeouts, allowing Maye and the offense to get into victory formation and ice the game.

Up Next: The Patriots (4-2) will ride a three-game winning streak into Nashville in Week 7, where Vrabel will play his first game as head coach against his former team, the Titans.