Peter King Shares Mac Jones-Bill Belichick Take After Patriots’ Historic Loss

If the Bill Belichick-led Patriots didn’t reach rock bottom Sunday, they came pretty darn close.

New England suffered its worst loss under Belichick in its Week 4 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys. The Patriots were throttled by 35 points at AT&T Stadium, where Mac Jones turned the ball over three times and was benched before the start of the fourth quarter.

Jones had a chance to silence some of his doubters Sunday and boost morale for a New England team that desperately needs a shot in the arm. Instead, the third-year quarterback was one of the main reasons why the Patriots had their doors blown off on national television. The horrific showing made Peter King think the Jones experiment in Foxboro, Mass. might not last much longer.

“Expiration date? Mac Jones may have one on him after that awful cross-field pick-six he threw at the Cowboys,” King wrote in his latest Football Morning in America column for NBC Sports. “But this is looking very much like the fourth straight year since Tom Brady walked that New England won’t win a playoff game, and the way Robert Kraft thinks, the head coach and draft czar has to be responsible for that.”

It doesn’t sound like a quarterback change could be imminent for the Patriots. However, given Jones’ track record and New England’s remaining schedule, we’re not sure if the 2021 first-rounder can do enough this season to preserve his job for the 2024 campaign.

Jones will try to subdue the negative chatter Sunday when the Patriots host the New Orleans Saints.