Everything you need to know about Patriots-Saints in Week 5
FOXBORO -- The Patriots were embarrassed in Dallas last weekend, but at least they return to Gillette Stadium this weekend for a little home cooking. Right?
Home games used to be automatic W's for the Patriots. Unfortunately, the home cooking hasn't tasted all that great over the last few years.
Not even the fancy new lighthouse or that pre-game bell have resulted in home-field magic for the Patriots, where New England is 0-2 at Gillette to start the season. The Patriots went 4-4 in front of their home fans last season, and 4-5 the season before that.
Since the start of the 2021 season -- Mac Jones' first with the Patriots -- New England is a sub-.500 team at home. So much for home-field advantage.
The Patriots could really use a home win -- or just a win, for that matter -- this weekend when the New Orleans Saints come marching into Foxboro. Here's what you need to know ahead of Sunday's Pats-Saints tilt.
Patriots vs. Saints
-Sunday will be the 16th overall meeting between the Patriots and the Saints, with New England leading the series at 10-5.
-The Patriots are 5-4 at home against New Orleans, including 2-1 at Gillette Stadium.
-Sunday is the first meeting between the two teams since the Saints earned a 28-13 victory over the Patriots at Gillette Stadium in 2021.
-Robert Kraft's first game as owner of the New England Patriots was a preseason tilt against the Saints in 1994. The Patriots won that game, 24-6.
Connections
-Ty Montgomery is the only former Saints player on the New England roster. Running backs coach Vinny Sunseri played for New Orleans in 2014.
-Saints receiver Lynn Bowden Jr. appeared in one game for the Patriots in 2022.
-Saints cornerback Isaac Yiadom is from Worcester and played his college ball at Boston College.
Other stuff you should know
-At 63-25, the Patriots own the best inter-conference record in the NFL since realignment in 2002.
-The Pats are averaging 320.3 yards of offense per game, which ranks 17th in the NFL. The Saints are averaging 285.3 yards per game, which ranks 23rd.
New England is averaging just 13.8 points per game though, which sits at 29th in the NFL, while the Saints are just slightly better, tied for 28th at 15.5 points per game.
-Defensively, the Patriots are allowing just 297 yards per game, good for 10th-best in the NFL. The Saints are right behind them, ranking 11th at 304.3 yards allowed per game. The Patriots are, however, allowing 24.3 points per game to rank 21st in the NFL, while the Saints rank ninth at 19.0 points allowed per game.
-Mac Jones lost his only matchup against the Saints, which came in Week 3 of his rookie season in 2021. He threw three interceptions, including a pick-six to start the second half to put New Orleans on top 21-3. Jones completed 30 of his 51 attempts for 270 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown to Kendrick Bourne.
-Jones is currently fifth in the NFL with 146 passing attempts, but ranks 24th in completion percentage (63.7 percent), 16th in yards (898), and tied for 12th in touchdown passes (5). His four interceptions are tied for the third-most in the NFL, though Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes are among the QBs to share that spot with Jones.
-Saints quarterback Derek Carr is 1-3 against the Patriots for his career, throwing six touchdowns, three interceptions, and averaging 225.8 passing yards over those four games.
-New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara has averaged just 3.68 yards per carry and 46 rushing yards over his two games against the Patriots. He does have a receiving touchdown against New England, which game during that Saints win at Gillette in 2021.
-The Patriots are up to 23 straight games with a sack, tied with Carolina for the third-longest active streak trailing only Kansas City (24 games) and Baltimore (25 games). The last time the Patriots didn't record a sack in a game was back on Dec. 26, 2021 in a home loss to the Bills.
-New England rookie punter Bryce Baringer leads the NFL with 11 punts placed inside the 20-yard line. He is on pace for 47 punts inside the 20, which would be the second-most in NFL history.
-The Pats own a minus-5 turnover differential, which is 27th in the NFL. An astounding 71 percent of New England's drives have ended in a punt or a turnover, which is the worst in the league.
-Bill Belichick's next win will be the 300th regular season win of his career. He'd join Don Shula (328) and George Halas (318) as the only other NFL head coaches with 300 wins in the regular season. (Yes this tidbit was a simple copy and paste job from last week, since the Patriots lost.)
We've got everything Saints-Patriots covered on WBZ-TV -- the television home of the New England Patriots! Coverage begins Wednesday night with Patriots 1st Down at 9:30pm on TV38, and continues Friday night with Patriots All Access on WBZ-TV at 7pm. Pregame coverage begins at 11:30am Sunday morning with Patriots GameDay, the Pats and the Saints kick off just after 1pm, and we'll wrap it all up on Patriots 5th Quarter on TV38 immediately following the game!