Patriots Ups & Downs: Who stood out in a road win over the Saints?

The Patriots are 4-2 after winning their third straight game by a 25-19 final over the Saints at the Superdome. Here's who we graded UP or DOWN based on their performance...

Another week, another impressive outing for the quarterback. It's no coincidence that Maye has avoided turning the ball over in three straight games, and the Patriots have won all those games. But Maye continued to emerge as one of the league's elite passers, as he completed 16 of 28 for 261 yards and three touchdowns. Excluding kneeldowns, Maye also rushed six times for 32 yards, including a 20-yard scramble that set the Patriots up down by the Saints' goal line (they settled for a field goal there).

Maye has been impressive lately because he's delivering the total package. He's making explosive plays and also playing smart, disciplined football. It's a winning formula for a quarterback and an offense, regardless of what's happening around him, and it surely hasn't been perfect around Maye. The Patriots are 4-2 and looking more dangerous by the week due in most part to the play of their QB.

Those aforementioned officials were so bad, they warranted the rare selection in Ups & Downs. The call that nullified the Douglas touchdown came way late, seemingly after the whole offense had already left the field. They also undid a long catch for Diggs in the fourth quarter, in which he put his hand on the DB's shoulder but did nothing close to a push-off.

On top of that, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel won not one but two second-half challenges to overturn the officials' bad calls, earning the elusive third challenge. First he forced them to change a call of down by contact to what was clearly a forced fumble and fumble recovery, then iced the game after getting the officials to change a late out-of-bounds call to an in-bounds catch with the clock running late.

Nobody wants to talk about the officials after a football game, but Adrian Hill's crew was too involved and made too many mind-numbing decisions to not be part of the conversation from this one.

Maye completed passes to seven different targets in New Orleans, but no one did more with his touches than Boutte. He caught 5 of 5 for 93 yards and two touchdowns, both of which were sure-handed grabs amid downfield traffic. Boutte's fifth and final catch essentially sealed the win, a 21-yard grab that was challenged and ruled to be in bounds, which allowed the Patriots to run the clock down.

On top of Maye's performance, it was nice to see other Patriots receivers step up and make big plays with Stefon Diggs being quiet.

The Patriots couldn't get much at all going on the ground in this game, and Stevenson did nothing to change that. He averaged only 1.4 yards per carry, often getting wrapped up on first contact. It's fair to wonder if the fumbling problems have Stevenson playing tentative, because he hasn't been making people miss or breaking tackles like we're used to seeing when he plays well.

Douglas made three catches for 71 yards and a touchdown, most notably hauling in the first score of the game off a 53-yard hookup with Maye. Douglas should have had a second TD, which would have gone for 61 yards, but the referees wiped it out with an egregious call for offensive pass interference, which wasn't even against him.

Much like with Boutte, it was nice to see Douglas make plays down the field on a quieter day for Diggs.

Jones racked up three pass breakups and even made a sack on a corner blitz, working up another productive afternoon in arguably his best season yet as a Patriot. In what's been a bit of a tumultuous season so far for Patriots cornerbacks, Jones has been their most consistently dependable.

Davis continues to look shaky with his downfield coverage and commit penalties, this time a holding that turned a second-and-7 into a fresh set of downs for the Saints. For a Patriots defense that hasn't always been crisp, even on Sunday, Davis has felt like the poster child for that inconsistency.

Elliss made perhaps the biggest defensive play of the day with his fourth-quarter forced fumble, which the Patriots recovered. Had the initial ruling of a catch stood, the Saints would've been at midfield with a chance to take back the lead and bleed some valuable time. Elliss' punch-out helped the Pats maintain their lead and run the clock down themselves.

Baringer didn't have a ton of work to do today, but he averaged 48 yards on his three punts with no touchbacks. Late in the fourth quarter, the Patriots decided to punt from the Saints' 43-yard line, and Baringer dropped it at the 10 to force a fair catch. Nice day for him, despite not being needed a whole lot.