In a game where Spencer Rattler might have had his best performance as a Saint, his weapons failed him.

New Orleans Saints 19 - 25 New England Patriots

The Saints lose another “competitive” game where they keep the fans in it til the end, just to break their hearts yet again. This result was due to two main causes: the defense lacking talent, and the weapons on offense making mistakes. 

The Positives

Spencer Rattler had another solid performance in this one, completing 20 of 26 attempts for 227 yards and had 10 straight completions at one point. He also made some really good plays with his legs again, navigating the pocket well and running for 20 yards on 4 attempts. He had multiple plays and throws in this game that had me saying to myself, “he’s the guy”, and that the team should build around him. That being said, there were a few plays that Chris Olave let Rattle down on good throws, one in the endzone, one on a deep ball, and another on a crucial play late in the game for a first down. Spencer Rattler is doing everything he can to keep the Saints alive… and the offense around him isn’t helping him out.

Blake Grupe had his best game of the season, going 4/4 with a long of 54. This was a game where another miss like he’s had in previous games would be a dagger, and he stood up to the test and did his job today.

Chris Olave had a very solid game today if you look at the box score, and his first hal-f was one of the best he’s had as a Saint. The sad thing is, I can’t rightfully put him in the positives today as his misses helped the Patriots win the game. 

The Negatives

Getting right back to Chris Olave, who is a possible trade piece for the Saints this year, he failed to make plays that a true WR1 for an NFL team should make. As I mentioned before, he had three drops/misses on balls from Rattler that could have, and arguably should have been, caught. Each came in big moments and all of them were throws in big moments that could have been massive boosts for the team. He did make one absurd contested-catch leaping over Marcus Jones on a long 3rd down, but came down and then fumbled (luckily the play ended up being ruled an incomplete catch). Olave has made some incredible catches in his career, but he has failed to truly step up in big moments, with a few exceptions. He is looking to sign a big contract, and he has not lived up to how you would expect a WR getting a huge pay day to perform. In fact, Kayshon Boutte stepped up in big moments for his team, with two strong contested catches over Kool-Aid McKinstry. If Olave wants a pay day, and if the Saints are looking to keep him around, he needs to make plays like Boutte did today.

The Saints defense was horrific today. More specifically, the secondary was horrific today. Jonas Sanker and Quincy Riley had extremely bad lapses in coverage today, both failing to realize where their help was and allowing their assignments to get wide open. Drake Maye was able to find open receivers constantly throughout the game, picking apart a talent ridden defense. Kool-Aid McKinstry looked terrible again, after a 2-interception game all of us would hope he could build off of. Opposing QBs seem to be targeting him, and I just can’t blame them for doing so. The defense did stand up and force two punts during the 4th quarter, but Kool-Aid let up another big gain on a 3rd and 11 in coverage against Kayshon Boutte of all people. 

Juwan Johnson. Someone who was extremely productive to start the season, let the team down with a huge fumble in the 4th quarter as Spencer Rattler tried to drive the team down the field. There are a lot of people on Twitter (or X, whatever you’d like to call it), calling him Juwan “Jared Cook” Johnson, but Jared Cook was a reliable option in the red zone and at least had above average hands. I can’t say the same about Johnson. Johnson has let down the team and Rattler a couple of times this season, and his production has steadily decreased every game so far. If he wants to be the TE1 for this team for the foreseeable future, he needs to live up to the $30 million contract the Saints gave him, and so far he hasn’t. 

Closing and Team MVPs

In all honesty, I just don’t have much to say about this game other than that I’m very disappointed. Spencer Rattler showed up quickly, and he didn’t make any “bad” plays this game, if anything, he made lots of “good” plays that showed me the team can build around him. It’s just a shame that the weapons the team have “invested” in let him down like they did. The team was competitive, as they have been in all but 1 game, so let’s see if they can bounce back and hopefully get revenge against Dennis Allen next weekend in Chicago.

Offensive MVP: Spencer Rattler

Defensive MVP: NONE. Pathetic.

Special Teams MVP: Blake Grupe