New England (3-2) at New Orleans (1-4)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EDT, CBS.
BetMGM NFL Odds: Saints by 1.
Against the spread: Patriots 3-2; Saints 2-3.
Series record: Patriots lead 10-6.
Last meeting: Saints beat Patriots 34-0 on Oct. 8, 2023, at New England.
Last week: Patriots beat Bills 23-20; Saints beat Giants 26-14.
Patriots offense: overall (16), rush (27), pass (7t), scoring (12t)
Patriots defense: overall (18), rush (4), pass (26), scoring (9t)
Saints offense: overall (24), rush (14t), pass (25), scoring (27)
Saints defense: overall (17), rush (20), pass (9), scoring (24)
Turnover differential: Patriots minus-1; Saints plus-5.
Patriots player to watch
WR Stefon Diggs. After a subdued start to the season, Diggs has come alive over the last two weeks. His 10 catches for 146 yards in last week’s win at Buffalo were a season high and it was his second straight 100-yard receiving game. A third consecutive 100-yard game would be his first since he had four straight in 2022 when he played for Buffalo. Diggs has 38 career games with at least 100 yards receiving, tied for fourth-most among active players (Davante Adams 46, DeAndre Hopkins 42, Keenan Allen 39).
Saints players to watch
WR Rashid Shaheed. Coach Kellen Moore calls him the fastest player he has ever seen and Shaheed is coming off his best game this season. He had four catches for 114 yards, highlighted by his 87-yard touchdown, the longest of his six career offensive TDs covering 53 yards or more.
Key matchup
Patriots run defense vs. Saints rushing attack. The Patriots are the only team in the NFL that hasn’t surrendered 50 yards to a running back through the first five games. It’s the first time in team history that has occurred. New Orleans comes in averaging 116.8 rushing yards per game. RB Alvin Kamara had two games with at least 50 yards rushing (99 vs. San Francisco in Week 2 and 70 vs. Buffalo in Week 4).
Key injuries
Patriots: DE Keion White (elbow) and S Jaylinn Hawkins (hamstring) both sat out practice early in the week.
Saints: CB Isaac Yiadom (hamstring) missed practice this week. … S Justin Reid was in the concussion protocol, but allowed to practice on a limited basis and appeared on track to being cleared to play. … Kamara tweaked an ankle in practice but Moore downplayed the significance of his presence on the club’s injury report.
Series notes
The road team has won the past three. … The Saints have won the past two meetings. … The Patriots are 5-2 against the Saints in New Orleans. … New England won the first five times these teams played between 1972 and 1986, and New Orleans has won six of the past 11 meetings since. … Saints WR Brandin Cooks and DT Davon Godchaux have played for both teams.
Stats and stuff
New England is looking for its first three-game win streak since 2022. … New England’s defense is allowing just 3.51 yards per rush through five games, the fourth-lowest mark in the NFL. … QB Drake Maye enters the week ranked second in the NFL with a 73.9% completion percentage, behind only Detroit’s Jared Goff (75.2%). … Maye’s streak of four consecutive games of 200-plus passing yards, completing 70-plus percent of his passes and having a 100-plus quarterback rating is the longest active streak in the NFL. It’s tied with Tom Brady for the longest such streak in Patriots history since the 1970 merger. … TE Hunter Henry enters the week with 2,455 yards receiving, ranking fifth all-time among Patriots tight ends. He needs 33 more yards to move past Jim Whalen (2,487 yards) into fourth place. … Saints QB Spencer Rattler earned his first career win as a starter last week, completing 21 of 31 passes (67.7%) for a season-high 225 yards and a TD without taking a sack or turning the ball over. Rattler also rushed for 21 yards to improve to 1-10 in his career as a starter. … Rattler has completed at last 65% of his passes in his past four games. … Kamara had 55 scrimmage yards (28 receiving, 27 rushing) last week, his 12th-straight game with 55-plus scrimmage yards. … Kamara has 590 career catches, fifth-most by a running back in NFL history. … RB Kendre Miller had a career-high 90 scrimmage yards (53 receiving, 37 rushing) in the last meeting. … WR Chris Olave had seven catches for 59 yards last week and has at least 50 yards receiving in four of five games this season, including all three games played in the Superdome. … TE Juwan Johnson has five or more catches in two of three home games this season. … LB Demario Davis had 10 tackles, a pass defensed and his fifth career forced fumble last week. … LB Pete Werner led the Saints with 11 tackles in Week 5, his second time in three games with at least that many. … DE Cameron Jordan had his first fumble recovery of the season last week and has a tackle for loss in two of his past three games. … DE Carl Granderson has 5-plus tackles in four of five games this season. He had three tackles for loss and a sack in the last meeting. … DT Bryan Bresee had a tackle for loss, forced fumble and pass defensed last week. … CB Kool-Aid McKinstry had a career-high three passes defensed and first two career INTs last week.
Fantasy tip
The one thing Diggs hasn’t done this season is get into the end zone in five games. The drought marks the most games to open a season he has gone without a receiving TD in his career. The only previous time he went even two games was his rookie season in 2015 with Minnesota.
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