This weekend marks either the beginning or the end of the New England Patriots season.

Given the schedule, beginning with today’s 1 p.m. home game vs. the New Orleans Saints, they have an opportunity to salvage things after their tough start.

Then they go to Las Vegas on Oct. 15, a team that is sinking faster than the Titanic.

After that, expect losses to the Bills (home) and Dolphins (road), and all of New England will be in a 3-5 panic.

But then….five very winnable games. The Commanders, Colts (Germany) Giants, Charges and Steelers, and that takes us into mid-December vs. Kansas City at Gillette. Gulp.

But conceivably, the Patriots could be 8-5 at that point, with two again very winnable games left: At Denver Christmas Eve and home vs. the Jets on Jan. 7 to end the season. Ten wins? Really?

It could happen. But there is absolutely no margin for error. Zip. Zero. None.

We’ll see. It’s pretty obvious in the NFL that the weaker teams in the season’s first month are that way because they can’t score points. The weakness begins at quarterback and goes from there.

Some QBs take longer to develop than others. There are examples in the NFL of quarterbacks that seem to eventually get it right with the right coach/system.

That bounce back may or may not happen with one Mac Jones.

We don’t think it will.

The next two months will tell us what we want to know for certain, as if we already don’t have a good idea. It just doesn’t look like Jones has it.

You compound that with his childish behavior, etc. and there’s a clear lack of confidence.

It’s not working, folks.

Yeah, it’s tough to finally come to grips with that thought. Many of you have done that before. We’ve been saying in the early season close games that Jones needs to rally the team down the stretch of a game for a win, then he’ll be showing us something.

But last weekend he imploded. We gave the kid a pass because of the ridiculous coaching situation last year, but now the gloves are off and playtime is over for Baby Mac.

“The bigges thing for me is take care of the football, go through my reads,” Jones said this week. “You know, what’s the play? That’s ll I can do as the quarterback and I feel like the guys are doing a good job. So I just have to get the ball to them and let them make plays.”

The problem is there are very few on the Patriots roster, it seems, that can do that. Enough,maybe, to beat the teams we’ve highlighted above. But that’s about it. Jones has his favorites, and right now it’s down to one reliable, tight end Hunter Henry, who has repeatedly professed his loyalty to Jones and his competitive nature.

That was great when the kid was a rookie. He’s not a rookie anymore, at times acts like a spoiled brat and the Patriots are drowning in mediocrity in the post-Brady era. That Brady left to go elsewhere is no longer any issue, the guy is retired now and the page was going to have to be turned at some point.

But here we are in Year Four A.B.and things still aren’t great. And the problem is magnified when the Patriots ship springs leaks elsewhere, such as the injuries to arguably its two best defensive players: veteran linebacker Matthew Judon (out two months, maybe more?) and rookie corner Christian Gonzalez (reportedly done).

So the urgency to score points is magnified. We know what Mac Jones is, the Patriots should, too, and whether that means a quick passing offense or a run oriented attack to set up the pass.

Right now you’re stuck with Jones. The Patriots best option is to make the best of it and then decide once and for all after the season as to whether he’s the long term answer or not.

We don’t think, at least right now, that he is.

Meanwhile, it’s time to pick again, and our week couldn’t have gotten any better than last week. Can we go 14-0, 20-1 over three weeks? We’ll see:

PATRIOTS 17, SAINTS 10

Yawwwwn…This one could be a real snoozer, since both offenses have been dragging. Mac Jones can’t get the ball to his receivers who aren’t that good anyway, Derrick Carr is playing hurt. We say Rhamondre Stevenson wakes up and realizes the season has started and will be the difference.

BILLS 27, JAGUARS 17

Jacksonville stayed in England for the week, having two straight games in London.The Bills are coming off the high of the win over Dolphins and take the next step as Von Miller returns and gives Trevor Lawrence all sorts of trouble.

RAVENS 24, STEELERS 10

Talk about bad offense, the Steelers appear to be suffering from that right now. And the Ravens are giving up an average of 14.5 points a game – one point less than Pittsburgh is averaging. Great rivalry, but won’t matter here.

EAGLES 30, RAMS 27

They’re not happy in Philly with how their Eagles are playing, but what the heck do they want? Probably a little better defense, because Jalen Hurts has them scoring nearly 30 a game. They’ll do just that on the road and stay undefeated.

NINERS 23, COWBOYS 21

Oh, NBC struck gold with this one,a great Sunday night matchup. The Cowboys looked fabulous last week, didn’t they? But rarely can they do that two weeks in a row. Niners will face the best defense they’ve seen all season, but they will do enough as Dak Prescott will be pressured enough to turn the ball over in a crucial spot.

DOLPHINS 40, GIANTS 13

This one is almost too easy, but the Giants look more like Joe Judge is their coach instead of Brian Daboll and that’s not good. The Dolphins look like Dan Marino is their QB. New York is 4-1 historically in Miami but it won’t matter with this sad group.

RAIDERS 30, PACKERS 27

Josh McDaniels and the Raiders need this badly or their season is over. Garappolo will play, Davante Adams is there against his former team, maybe that should count for something. Survival.

LAST WEEK: 7-0

SEASON RECORD: 20-8

Tom King may be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on Twitter (@Telegraph_TomK).

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