Courtesy of PFF

FOXBOROUGH- The Patriots survived a thriller with the Atlanta Falcons, 24-23. After jumping out to a 21-7, the Patriots had to hang on for dear life in order to pick up their sixth straight win.

Here are seven points on the Patriots win:

1. Strong start, sloppy finish: The Patriots got off to a great start building an early 21-7 lead. A costly Drake Maye fumble right before the end of the half led to a Falcons touchdown and put them right back in the game. The second half was a slog and the Patriots were able to hold on and survive. Playing a four quarter game is key to winning at any level of football. Despite getting the win, the Patriots did not play a complete game and they will need to if they want to contend.

2. Maye’s Day: Maye completed 19-of-29 passes for 259 yards, 2 touchdowns and one interception. He also fumbled on a strip sack. His two turnovers led to 10 points for the Falcons. He finished with a passer rating of 102.5. Has the gloss worn off the baseball card when it comes to Maye? Probably not but he has to play better and more importantly, he needs to take care of the football.

3. Pop’s career day: Pop Douglas caught 4 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown. The 100 yards were a career high. The Patriots needed him to be a factor in this game and he was. He torched Atlanta a couple of times on the deep over route. The Falcons played a lot of match man and the Patriots made them pay on several occasions. With Kayshon Boutte leaving the game with a hamstring injury in the third quarter, the Patriots needed Douglas to step up and he did.

4. Running game does enough: The Patriots were without Rhamondre Stevenson but despite his absence, they got enough out of the ground game to balance things up offensively. Collectively, the Patriots rushed for 110 yards. Tre’veyon Henderson led the way with 14 carries for 55 yards. Terrell Jennings only carried the ball 11 times but he had 35 yards and a touchdown. Overall, the Patriots got what they needed out of the running backs today.

5. Secondary struggles vs. London: Both Christian Gonzalez and Marcus Jones struggled against Drake London today. The star receiver of the Falcons caught 9 passes for 119 yards and 3 touchdowns. He beat Jones twice and Carlton Davis once. London is a match up nightmare with his height and wide catch radius and he proved to be a problem today.

6. Turnovers prove to be costly: The two turnovers committed by Maye today proved to be costly. They directly led to ten points for the Falcons. If the Patriots are going to contend moving forward, they need to take better care of the ball. Losing the turnover battle equals losing games. They got lucky today.

7. Offensive line struggles: The performance of the offensive line was lost in the shuffle a bit but they gave up 6 sacks today. Coming into the game, we knew Atlanta’s pressure package could be a problem. It was. The Patriots struggled against the Falcons blitzes and line stunts. They need to be better moving forward. Maye cannot get hit as much as he did today.