Winners and losers from Patriots vs Saints in Week 3

The New England Patriots were defeated by the New Orleans Saints 28-13 on Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

Bill Belichick’s team was not able to get anything going on offense for most of the day, and, when they did, they stalled out in the red zone and settled for field goals.

New England’s defense did their job most of the game, but, when they needed a stop at the end of the game, they couldn’t get it.

It was an ugly day all around for the Patriots led by rookie quarterback Mac Jones.

These are the winners and losers from this Week 3 matchup.

LOSERS: Patriots' offensive line

The struggles from the offensive line have been well-documented through the first two weeks of the season, and they continued yet again in Week 3. It's not just the right tackle spot that was filled by Justin Herron this week with Trent Brown out once again with a calf injury. Everyone along the line needs to improve to keep the rush off of Mac Jones and to get push for Damien Harris in the run game. The offense can only go as far the line allows them, and, thus far, that's nowhere.

LOSER: TE Jonnu Smith

This may have been Smith's worst game in the NFL. At multiple points in the game, he had opportunities to bring in targets and have an impact on this game, and he couldn't get anything going. His drop on the first drive of the second half fell directly into the hands of Malcolm Jenkins and was returned for a touchdown. https://twitter.com/Saints/status/1442199060950224899?s=20

LOSERS: Coaches

In the early parts of this season, the Patriots just don't seem to be well-coached. Through three weeks, they've been called for 15 penalties for 168 yards. That's extremely uncharacteristic of New England. On top of that, there have been some questionable play-calls coming from Josh McDaniels. There was a clear example of this issue was on the second drive of the second half. Jones drove the ball down the field well, but when they got in close they handed off to Brandon Bolden twice and threw a swing pass to Smith. The team settled for a field goal.

WINNERS: WRs Jakobi Meyers and Kendrick Bourne

In a game that didn't have many bright spots, Meyers and Bourne were the favorite targets. They finished this game with 15 catches for 190 yards and a touchdown. Bourne's touchdown was one of the more impressive plays of the game, as he high-pointed a ball, stayed in bounds, and got the ball around the pylon for his first New England touchdown. It was nice to see some receivers get open and make plays in an afternoon that didn't see a lot of them.

WINNER: DT Christian Barmore

Defensive tackles don't get enough love in the NFL, but this rookie is impacting the game each week. Barmore may not be putting up huge numbers on the stat sheets, but he is getting into the backfield and putting pressure on quarterbacks. This is exactly the role Belichick expected when he traded up to draft this year's best defensive tackle.

WINNER: LB Matt Judon

Nobody has been more consistent than Judon this year. He's making plays in the backfield and leading the defense nearly every snap. In this matchup, Judon recorded 2.5 sacks and was constantly putting pressure on Winston and keeping their running backs from bouncing to the outside. The Judon signing has been the most positively impactful one this season.

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