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Week 5 losers: Jones wearing out welcome in New England

New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones (10) looks to pass against the New Orleans Saints during the second half at Gillette Stadium. Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

Week 5 losers: Mac Jones wearing out his welcome in New England

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 10/9/23

Not every player, coach and team can shine. With that in mind, let's look at some of the more unremarkable moments and performances from Week 5:

Mac Jones, QB, New England Patriots: In the span of 19 games, Jones went from Tom Brady’s heir apparent to possibly out of a job. Over the last two weeks — in which he’s averaged 125 yards passing and two interceptions per game — Jones has been benched more times (two) than he’s thrown touchdowns (zero).

He’s regressed since his rookie season, and at this point, he’s more of a liability than anything. Following a 10-win rookie season, Jones is 7-11 as a starter and averaging just 210 yards passing per game.

While Bailey Zappe hasn’t shown much either in relief (7 of 18 passing, 79 yards), he also hasn’t had a full week of starter’s reps or gone into a game knowing he was going to play.

Jones hasn't given New England much reason to believe he can turn things around, and if he has one more performance like the last two weeks, Zappe could be given the keys to the offense and Jones could be looking for a new team next season.

Bill Belichick, HC, New England Patriots: In consecutive weeks, Belichick has had the two worst losses of his coaching career in which he lost by a combined score of 72-3, and the Patriots offense has gone 34 straight possessions without scoring. New England ranks 26th in offense and they score fewer points per game then every team in the NFL.

After a 20-year run as one of the most dominant coaches in the NFL that included six Super Bowl championships and three NFL Coach of the Year honors, Belichick is firmly on the hot seat.

Patriots fans are not happy with how the post-Brady era in New England has gone and Belichick seemingly doesn’t have any answers as to how to fix the Pats issues.

Sean Payton, HC, Denver Broncos: You know things are bad when you get trolled by the 2-3 New York Jets. That’s exactly what happened to Payton after Sunday’s 31-21 loss at Mile High.

New York out-gained Denver by 99 yards and dominated time of possession by nearly 10 minutes as offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett got the last laugh against the man who was critical of the way he ran the Broncos as head coach last year.

when you lose to the "offseason champs" pic.twitter.com/FzNIqGWZks
— New York Jets (@nyjets) October 8, 2023

In Payton’s first season, Denver is 1-4 with a mediocre offense (17th, 328.2 yards per game) and the worst defense in the NFL (450.6 yards per game, 36.2 points allowed per game).

With two games against the Chiefs and one against the Packers and Bills, it’s possible Denver might just blow up the team and start rebuilding from the ground up.

Everybody, New York Giants: The Giants may just be the worst team in the NFL with the worst QB in the NFL. Their lone win came against the Arizona Cardinals, and they needed a 20-point rally to pull that off. Against competent teams, New York has scored just 31 points in four games and Jones hasn’t thrown for more than 203 yards.

Not having star running back Saquon Barkley surely has played a role in the Giants’ misfortune, but this is a team that gave Jones $160M over four years but wouldn’t commit to Barkley beyond this season.

The Giants are a mess from the front office to the special teamers, and things don’t look like they’ll get better anytime soon.

Kristian Fulton, CB, Tennessee Titans: In the span of one season, Fulton went from rising star on an ascending Titans defense to arguably the biggest liability on the team.

Fulton was raked over the coals following Sunday’s 23-16 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in which he allowed several big plays and blamed the refs for his poor play instead of owning up to his mistakes.

Fulton got beat deep for multiple explosive pass plays and flagged for multiple PI's in critical spots.

His head coach said after the game that they considered benching him.

Fulton points the finger at officials and says he played technically sound. That's...a choice. #Titans https://t.co/wzcO65W9AC
— Sam Phalen (@Sam_Phalen) October 8, 2023

Head coach Mike Vrabel admitted to reporters that he considered benching Fulton during the game and he even gave him a demonstration on how to defend plays during halftime.

Fans want the Titans to trade the former second-round pick, and if the Titans could find a willing trade partner, they would likely oblige.

Kirk Cousins, QB, Minnesota Vikings: Sure, the Vikings are 1-4, but it’s not all Cousins’ fault. In fact, it’s mostly not his fault. Cousins leads the NFL in touchdowns (11) and he ranks fourth in passing (1,214 yards), sixth in passer rating (104.4) and 10th in completion percentage, and yet, he will seemingly always shoulder the blame for Minnesota’s shortcomings.

With just three more games before the trade deadline, two of which are against the 49ers and Packers, it’s possible the Vikings could trade Cousins before Oct. 31 instead of letting him walk for nothing in the offseason.

Buffalo Bills: Not only did the Bills lose to the Jaguars 25-20, but they also lost All-Pro linebacker Matt Milano for the rest of the season after suffering an injury in London.

In addition, Buffalo’s trio of running backs mustered just 15 yards on 10 carries against the Jags, further forcing quarterback Josh Allen to try and do everything himself.

Coming off a 48-20 domination of the Miami Dolphins the previous week, the Bills had no excuses for the stinker they played against Jacksonville on Sunday.

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