Here are some observations from Sunday’s Patriots win over the Saints, which was probably a bit closer than we all thought it would be:

First, we’ve said for awhile that Drake Maye has a ton of confidence in receiver Kayshon Boutte and loves throwing him the ball. That was perfectly clear as Boutte, in a homecoming, was the Patriots’ leading receiver with five catches for 93 yards and two TDs and the clinching catch.

“I think he factored and certainly came up huge at the end,” Vrabel said. “I think he’s just gotten better. Never too up, never too down. Sometimes the ball finds him and he makes some plays and when it doesn’t he just understands it wasn’t his snap. … You see the confidence Drake has in him.”

Maye said he wanted to give Boutte a chance on his TD in the first half because it was single coverage. “One-on-ones are open in this league, you’ve got to know that,” he said.

“We work on (connecting) every day in practice, before practice and after practice,” Boutte said. “As long as we trust in each other, anything’s possible.”

— Officiating is getting ridiculous at all levels of football, but when you see calls like Sunday you just wonder how to solve it. Especially when you see ticky-tac calls like the offensive pass interference calls. “They don’t really have much explanation, they see something,” Vrabel said. “We’ll continue to be aggressive…We’ll remain aggressive and want our players to remain competitive.”

And in replays – Vrabel won a big one with the fumble that took the Saints out of a potential late go-ahead drive – the coach admits it’s a crapshoot. Almost a complete guessing game.

“I don’t think you ever really know nowadays, I really don’t,” he said. “…Sometimes they see it the way we do, sometimes they don’t.”

— Vrabel says a young team learning how to win is fine, given the alternative.

“Better than an old team getting out of here with a loss, I would say,” Vrabel said. “We will never not embrace winning in this league but I do think guys are very aware of the fact it can be better and will have to be better the more we go along here and play.”

— The Patriots had four wins in each of the last two seasons, and the fourth last year came in a meaningless game on the last day of the regular season, one they may not have really wanted for draft position reasons.Well, they just got win No. 4 yesterday. What’s Maye think of that? “Just go get win No.5, that’s my only thought,” Maye said. “Last year’s in the past, just trying to keep building …being a tough team to play on the road, and winning at home is what we’re trying to build. I think we’re on the way to that.”

—- The Patriots seemingly can’t run the football, and that’s not good. They rushed 31 times for 73 yards with Maye their leading rusher with 28. Rhamondre Stevenson ran 13 times for just 18 yeards. Ugh. That has to change, especially against some of the better teams down the stretch, just to keep teams off balance, allow Maye to use play-action, and keep him healthy.

—- Will Campbell and Boutte, former LSU players, enjoyed a homecomeing of sorts. Boutte said he had to get 40 tickets for family and friends. One reporter marveled at how expensive that had to be.

We think he can afford it, right?

Tom King may be reached at X @Telegraph_TomK, or via email at tking@nashuatelegraph.com