


Tom Brady isn’t walking through that door.
The Patriots’ descent continued Sunday with the franchise’s worst home loss of the Bill Belichick era, a 34-0 trouncing by the Saints in Foxborough.
One week after he was pulled in a 38-3 loss in Dallas — the worst overall loss for the franchise in Belichick’s 24 seasons as New England’s head coach — quarterback Mac Jones was benched for a second straight game.
The third-year quarterback has zero touchdown passes and four interceptions in the two blowout losses as the Pats fell to 1-4 for the first time since 2000.
Jones was replaced by backup Bailey Zappe with the Saints leading 31-0 early in the fourth quarter.
He had thrown his third pick-six of the season in the opening period, a 27-yard return by Tyrann Mathieu.
Asked after the game if Jones will remain the starting quarterback next week against the Raiders, Belichick replied, “Yeah, there are a lot of problems. Certainly wasn’t all him.”
Still, the game marked only the second time the Patriots have been shut out at home under Belichick and the first since a 16-0 loss to the Bills in October 2016.
They haven’t scored a touchdown since the first half in their 15-10 win over the Jets in Week 3.
Asked about the offense’s slow starts this season, Jones said, “Really just not being ready to go, I guess.”