The New Orleans Saints lost to the New England Patriots 25-19 at the Caesars Superdome on Sunday.
The loss dropped the Saints to 1-5 on the season.
Here’s what we learned from the game:
It was Maye's day
The Saints had no answer for Drake Maye, especially in the first half. The second-year quarterback from North Carolina looked like the best player on the field for most of the day, completing 18 of 26 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a team-high 32 yards.
Maye's biggest pass was his last one, a 21-yard dime to Kayshon Boutte on third-and-11 to essentially seal the game and keep the Saints from attempting a game-winning touchdown drive in the final minutes.
Maye did most of his damage in the first half, when he strafed the Saints defense on 11-of-13 passing for 185 yards and three touchdowns. His passer rating was a perfect 158.3 in the first half.
The Patriots clearly have their franchise quarterback in Maye.
Controversial call goes against the Saints
Juwan Johnson's late fumble was a killer for the Saints and did not occur without controversy. Officials originally ruled Johnson was down before losing the ball after his 14-yard catch with 8:50 left. But they reversed the ball after a replay review and ruled that Johnson fumbled, giving New England possession at its own 49.
Ultimately, the Patriots had to punt, but they were able to run valuable time off the clock and punt the Saints deep in their own territory because of the ruling.
Kellen Moore was not happy with the decision and advanced 20 yards on to the field to dispute the ball with officials, to no avail.
It was only the Saints' second fumble of the season.
The red zone struggles continued
The box score shows that the Saints were 1 for 2 in the red zone, but they also failed to score a touchdown on two other trips to the New England 27- and 20-yard lines. Their lone touchdown in the scoring zone came on a short run by Taysom Hill in the second quarter.
As a result of their shortcomings in the red zone, the Saints settled for four Blake Grupe field goals. It was Grupe's best game of the season after some earlier struggles with accuracy, so that's a good thing. But the Saints need more touchdowns if they want to record more wins and reverse their 1-5 start.