Drake Maye will get a lot of the headlines out of the Patriots' 25-19 victory over the Saints on Sunday — and he should, at this point, he's a legitimate MVP candidate, as the Patriots rolled to their third-straight victory behind his great play.
And while the defense had its fair share of issues in the passing game again against Spencer Rattler, who notched his second-best career passer rating (102.6), and set career highs in completion percentage (76.9), yards per attempt (8.7) and completion rate over expected (+13.7, which is second only to Maye's +15 so far in Week 6), the Patriots found a way to get the job done by limiting the Saints to four field goals (one touchdown), 2.8 yards from Saints running backs, Marcus Jones making some history, and Christian Elliss making a big timely play.
Jones finished with five tackles, three pass breakups and his first career sack. He's the first Patriots defender to register at least three pass breakups and one sacks since Richard Seymour in 2003. This is the rest of the list in team history. Pretty good company.
"Great," Mike Vrabel said when asked about Jones. "He's one of our captains. He's a team leader, very comfortable with him back there. He challenges, and most of the time those matchups are a bigger player, but him being able to go up there and contest the catches, get some PBUs, being able to hammer a ball out, whether that was Christian or (Charles) Woods there at the end ..."
Some of Jones' plays were absolutely huge. He made five plays that ended Saints drives and forced all four field goals:
3rd and 4 ... incomplete to Chris Olave ... field goal.
3rd and 15 ... tackled Alvin Kamara after 7 yards ... field goal
3rd and 4 ... pass break up of Olave ... field goal
3rd and 17 ... pass break up of Olave that would have converted a first down ... punt
3rd and 6 ... sack of Rattler ... field goal
"The main thing is winning, you know?" Jones said. "So I'm proud of this group. You know, we put in a lot of effort from training camp all the way to, you know, taking it day by day and everything like that. So we want to all in on this week. So I'm happy about.
"All we did was communicate with each other. Make sure we dial in the details, make sure everyone's doing their one of the 11, and then take it from there."
Even with all the plays Jones was making in the secondary and the performance of Maye, the Saints had the ball at midfield down six points with about 8:30 left in the game when Elliss came up with a huge play against TE Juwan Johnson.
Elliss forces the fumble!
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 12, 2025
📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/GANWBdvyUV
That was a humongous play, especially for a guy who has struggled for portions of this season.
"Yeah, first off, that was a great play by Ellis, you know, I mean, punching the ball out," said Jones. "We practice it all the time, trying to cause turnover. So that was great, but making sure that we do our part, you know, get the ball back to the offense and everything. They did their part as well."
The Patriots also continued their stingy play against the opposing running backs. They limited the Saints' backs, Kamara and Kendre Miller, who are both pretty good, to just 53 yards on 19 carries with a long of 7 yards. Kamara had 31 yards on 10 carries.
According to the post-game notes, the Patriots are the only team in 2025 that has not surrendered 50 yards to a running back through the first six games in 2025. It is the first time in team history that has occurred. Last season, Baltimore did not allow a 50-yard rusher for the first seven weeks of the season, and Kansas City started the 2024 season with a five-game streak.
Linebacker Robert Spillane reached at least 10 tackles for the third time in 2025 after finishing with a team-leading 11 tackles. He had 15 tackles vs. Pittsburgh (9/21) and 10 tackles vs. Carolina (9/28). Khyiris Tonga appeared to have another strong game in the middle, but the entire front seven is contributing to their great run defense.
"How much fun is it us? A lot of fun," said Jones. "You know, we do it for one reason, to win. You know, we all have the same goals. So it's just a blessing to be able to be out here with my guys and everything, and taking one week, one game at a time."
