FOXBORO — As Bill Belichick leads the Patriots in a dance around questions about their starting quarterback this week, here’s one to stop the music: what does it matter?

Mac Jones is broken. An intact Bailey Zappe throws interceptions into triple coverage. I have argued for Malik Cunningham to start Sunday, but the fact an undrafted rookie who’s spent most of his NFL career playing receiver represents a compelling option is perhaps most damning.

Let’s skip all the reasons how or why the Patriots reached a dead end at quarterback. They live here now. At least for two more months, this is their street.

The Giants, of course, are next-door neighbors. After injuries to veteran quarterbacks Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor, undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito jumped from practice-squad intern to full-time starter. DeVito, who couldn’t hold down the starting job at Syracuse, still lives in his childhood home, where his parents do his laundry and cook his food.

Not even Mama DeVito could make chicken salad out of her son’s team. The Giants stink. Even worse than the Patriots.

New York is the only team that currently ranks bottom six on offense, defense and special teams by DVOA. They’re dead last in scoring and point differential, having been outscored by 116 in 11 games. Whether Jones returns Sunday or he’s replaced, the Patriots should try to beat the Giants as if they have no quarterback at all.

Treat him like an extra instead of a main character. Let him inevitably bomb in the background Sunday, away from center stage. That belongs to the run game.

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Because would you believe over the last six weeks, the Patriots’ rush offense ranks second in the NFL by success rate and third by Expected Points Added (EPA)? Or that since the season opener, the Pats’ run game has posted a higher success rate and better EPA than their passing attack? Meaning that handing the ball off has generated better results than allowing Jones to keep it in his hands.

No wonder Zeke Elliott openly advocated for the Patriots to run more after their loss in Germany.

“I think today we showed how good of a run game we have, and I think that we have two really good running backs. And I think that our O-line is great in the run game, and they showed that today. … I think we could run it more,” Elliott said. “But to do that, we got to take care of the football. We have to eliminate the penalties so we don’t have long distances.

“But the more we put ourselves in position to run the football, the better off this offense will be.”

After bludgeoning the Colts’ soft run defense for a season-high 167 yards, the Patriots should hammer the Giants. New York’s run defense ranks 25h by EPA, 28th by DVOA and 28th by yards allowed per carry. The Pats are rested, and could return their best offensive lineman — 6-foot-8, 380-pound Trent Brown — after he missed two games.

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Play ground and pound. Run the ball every damn down if need be. Punting doesn’t mean quitting Sunday. It means giving Elliott or Rhamondre Stevenson a requisite breather so they can start denting the Giants’ defensive front all over again.

Because at this point, starting a new quarterback or drawing new routes for JuJu Smith-Schuster, Devante Parker and Tyquan Thornton is the NFL version of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Bill O’Brien has been tweaking his pass game for weeks. He’s tried protecting his quarterbacks behind a leaky offensive line for months, and failed at both.

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In the preseason opener last August, O’Brien left crumbs of concern when he called a curious number of screens, run-pass options (RPOs) and quick passing concepts; plays designed to get the ball out of Zappe’s hands while he played with rookie linemen and practice-squad veteran Conor McDermott at left tackle. Three months later, with McDermott back at left tackle, O’Brien continues to work from the same menu.

Toss it. The Patriots have done that before.

Two years ago, Belichick took the ball out of Jones’ hands during a road game played inside a windstorm. The Patriots battled the Bills on Monday Night Football, a game best remembered for how Jones virtually did nothing. He attempted just three passes that night, completing two for 19 yards.

The Pats won.

Perfect.