The New England Patriots defense largely has been sharp through the first two weeks of the 2021 NFL season.
ESPN is expecting another solid showing from the unit Sunday afternoon.
The Patriots will try to improve to 2-1 in Week 3 when they host the New Orleans Saints. It's been a mixed bag thus far from Sean Payton's team, which throttled the Green Bay Packers to kick off the campaign but were flattened by the Carolina Panthers last weekend.
ESPN believes New England will enjoy defensive success similar to Carolina's in their 26-7 win.
"Saints QB Jameis Winston will be held under 230 passing yards for the third straight week," Mike Triplett wrote. "It won't be as ugly as last week at Carolina, when the Saints' entire offense was held to just 128 yards and six first downs because of protection issues. But it will be hard to have a 'get right' game against the Patriots' stingy defense, which ranks top five in the NFL through two weeks in points allowed (11.5 per game) and yards allowed (297.5 per game)."
For what it's worth, the Patriots limited the opposing quarterback to under 230 passing yards in each of their first two games.
