Mike Vrabel got the best of both worlds on Sunday afternoon.

His team pushed its record to 4-2, winning a one-score game in New Orleans, 25-19. But the Patriots also played a decidedly imperfect game, giving Vrabel and his staff all the ammunition they’ll need to coach their players hard in the upcoming week ahead of a trip to Tennessee.

“We will never,” Vrabel told his team after the game, “ever get to the point where we’re not gonna celebrate [expletive] wins, you hear me? But I like where we’re headed, where we can sit there and say we can play so much better.

“You guys are already thinking like that. I can tell that you’re not satisfied. But I’m still gonna demand that you celebrate this [expletive] for a couple hours.”

As the short-lived celebration wraps up, let’s get to what we learned about the Patriots down in New Orleans…

Drake Maye stays cool under pressure

According to NextGen Stats, Drake Maye was pressured on 18 dropbacks and completed 10 of 16 pass attempts for 177 yards. That yardage total is the second-most under pressure for any quarterback this season. 

It might have been hard to predict that Maye would’ve needed that kind of game to beat New Orleans — the Saints came into the game with the second-lowest pressure rate in the NFL — but he did. Perhaps one of the most encouraging aspects of Maye’s second season is that through his team’s four wins, he has flashed a slightly different winning quality in each.

Against Miami, his ability to throw on the move and outside the pocket helped him take over. Against the Panthers, he showed an unmistakable level of chemistry with Stefon Diggs to put that game out of reach early. In Buffalo, he was clutch in one of the most difficult-to-win environments in football, piling up gaudy numbers through an almost immaculate second half. 

In New Orleans, he might not have been under the same level of intangible pressure he was the week prior, playing a divisional rival on national television with the reigning MVP on the opposite sideline. But he was under physical pressure more often and thrived. All three of his touchdown throws came under pressure, helping him record a passer rating of 140.1.

Maye is currently on pace to be just the third quarterback in NFL history with a rating of 105.0 or better and an average of 250 passing yards per game.

The other two? Patrick Mahomes in 2018 (won MVP) and Dan Marino in 1984 (won MVP). 

Maye-be better than the numbers suggest?

As noteworthy as some of Maye’s statistics from Sunday were… they should have been better. 

He had two passes, combining for 112 yards and a touchdown, wiped off the board due to questionable offensive pass interference calls on Stefon Diggs. The Patriots ultimately scored soon after DeMario Douglas’ second touchdown of the day was erased, but Maye had a 51-yard completion to Diggs that evaporated due to a flag that was thrown when Diggs’ hand was placed on the shoulder of his defender as Maye’s pass approached. 

That throw? In the bucket, placed exactly where it needed to be, on third and 17. One play later, on third and 27, he hit Mack Hollins in the hands — and it looked as though Hollins might’ve been interfered with — deep down the field on another accurate strike that bounced away incomplete.

Earlier in the fourth quarter, on third and 11, Maye was nearly sacked. He kept two hands on the football, ripped the ball away from oncoming defenders, stepped up in the pocket and made an off-balance attempt to Hollins for 16 yards. First down. 

Though Maye’s second-half numbers (7-for-13, 76 yards) weren’t as impressive as his stats from the first 30 minutes (11-for-13, 185 yards, three touchdowns), he still made some eye-opening plays that suggested he still had some clutch left over from the week prior in Buffalo.

Kayshon Boutte threatens downfield

In his return to Louisiana, Kayshon Boutte looked like a legitimate down-the-field threat. Three of his five catches (95 yards, two touchdowns) came on passes that traveled at least 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. He averages 15.9 air yards per target this season, per NextGen Stats, which is fourth-most in the NFL.

In an offense without a classic “No. 1” receiver who can win down the field and outside the numbers on a regular basis, Boutte has teamed up with Stefon Diggs to offer Maye another dependable option when the QB wants to air it out. Boutte’s body control and contested-catch ability continue to show up when he’s given opportunities, and he’s rewarded the Patriots with heady play late in games in back-to-back weeks.

Twice along the sideline on the game-sealing drive, Boutte got down in bounds to run the clock. (The second required a challenge from Mike Vrabel to get the officials to acknowledge that he was, in fact, down in bounds.)

Those came one week after Boutte caught Maye’s final pass in Buffalo and stayed in bounds to prevent Josh Allen from getting the football back with much time on the clock late in the fourth quarter.

DeMario Douglas’ persistence rewarded

Douglas hadn’t been targeted all that frequently in recent weeks, but his downfield blocking helped continue to earn him playing time. He helped spring Stefon Diggs for an explosive gain in Week 5, and in Week 4 he cleared the way for a Hunter Henry touchdown.

Not bad for a 5-foot-8 wideout who tips the scales at less than 200 pounds.

“My mindset is, man, any way I can help this team get a dub,” Douglas said. “I love winning. It feels good to win. It’s just that extra effort, man. I think that nobody has really seen, you know, that I could do that. People had that as a question mark, ‘Can Pop block?’ I put that on film, you know, just go out there and do something to help the team.”

Thanks in part to his willingness to do the dirty work for his teammates, Douglas continued to get playing time on Sundays. And he made good on his latest opportunity with three grabs for 71 yards and a touchdown. He should’ve had two scores, but the second was erased due to an offensive pass-interference call on Diggs. 

It’ll be interesting to see how Douglas is used moving forward. It seemed as though he was best suited for the traditional slot receiver role in Josh McDaniels’ offense back during training camp. But at times, when used in that way during the regular season, he and Maye haven’t been on the same page. Douglas has enough in the way of deep speed that perhaps his best role is in a big-hitting downfield target.

Those kinds of routes certainly paid dividends for him in the Superdome.

Running game still struggling

Rhamondre Stevenson didn’t fumble on Sunday, but he also wasn’t able to chew up much yardage when given the football. And that’s putting it kindly. 

He recorded 13 carries for just 18 yards, an average of 1.4 per carry. The Patriots averaged only 2.05 yards per carry with their backs against the Saints, indicating that that phase of Josh McDaniels’ offense is actually sliding in the wrong direction.

When asked about his offense’s inability to run the ball effectively Sunday, Vrabel said, “Probably one guy away. Like always.”

It’s been a season-long struggle for the Patriots to run the ball with any kind of consistent effectiveness. They came into the game ranking in the bottom-five of many rushing categories, though players in the backfield and on the offensive line felt confident they were “close” to breaking a few.

One potential issue getting in their way? Predictability. In the first half, the Patriots ran the ball on five of 13 first-down plays. In the second half, they handed off on eight of 10 first-down plays.

Part of that is likely due to wanting to run time off the clock. But several of the runs looked like straight hand-offs with Maye under center, and three of the last four went for negative yardage as the Saints teed off. 

Seems fair to wonder if the Patriots could benefit from a little more creativity in that aspect of their offensive attack, though there’s also an argument that if they want to be an effective rushing team, there’s no better time to work on those basic no-frills run plays than in a game against a real opponent.

Either way, they’ll need to find their footing in the run game if they want to be able to take something in the way of responsibility off the shoulders of their young quarterback.

Patriots bend but don’t break again

The Patriots haven’t been anyone’s idea of a particularly dominant defense, ranking 22nd in EPA per play and 27th in success rate coming into Week 6. But they ranked seventh in points allowed (20.0).

That trend continued to a degree in New Orleans. They allowed 5.8 yards per play and 8.0 yards per pass. They allowed the Saints to get inside their 40-yard line on five different occasions, and Spencer Rattler put points on the board on all five drives. But only one touchdown was scored during those series, allowing the Patriots to keep their opponent in the teens on the scoreboard for the second time in the last three weeks.

Leading the way? One of their captains, Marcus Jones continues to be one of their most impressive performers. He broke up three passes and recorded a sack. His well-timed breakup on Saints wideout Chris Olave near the goal line thwarted what looked like it might’ve been a long-distance score.

Christian Elliss also helped the cause with six tackles, a pass breakup and a forced fumble. It looks like he’s earned a steadier role at the second level after the Patriots have tinkered a bit at that position, playing Jack Gibbens and Marte Mapu alongside Robert Spillane at different points over the last few weeks.