A few notes from Sunday’s 59-0 New England Patriot blowout win over Tennessee:

First, is it possible Adalius Thomas was a healthy scratch? He wasn’t on the week’s final injury report and when asked about his absence from the 45-man game roster, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick predictably had this to say:

“No, we just went with the players we thought would have the bigger role in the game.”

Ouch….

Second, one wonders what was going through the mind of rookie Darius Butler on Sunday. Butler played with late University of Connecticut cornerback Jasper Howard, who died as the result of an apparent stabbing late Saturday. “I was definitely focused on the game,” Butler said, “but obviously something that serious was in the back of my mind. I know how much (Howard) loved the game, so it didn’t affect my game negatively.”

Butler was thought of as a mentor to Howard when he was at UConn. His Patriot teammates acknowledged his heavy heart with a big reception after his first career interception on Sunday.

“It means a lot,” he said. “It means that they support me. It was my first interception, so it was a big one. and obviously it meant a little more to me because of the news that happened last night. It was huge.”

Third, Laurence Maroney, the main down running back job may be yours. Fan and coaching staff favorite Sammy Morris went down with a knee injury, and Maroney responded with 123 yards and a 45-yard touchdown run on 16 carries.

“One thing I never did was lose confidence in myself,” Maroney said. “I knew with the right opportunites, we can go out there and I can do my thing. I never lost confidence, but wafter a game like this it does make me feel good…It really wasn’t about me. As a team we played a great game.”

Belichick was asked if Maroney was doing anything different on Sunday.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I think Laurence has run hard. He got a little crease and we all know once he gets out there he can run and he did. He turned it on. He had a couple of nice runs and he runs hard. He had a little bit of space and once he got some momentum he’s a hard guy to bring down. We’ve all seen that before.”

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Tom Brady set an NFL record for touchdown passes in a quarter, five, in the second quarter (two to Wes Welker, two to Randy Moss, one to Kevin Faulk)….

The Patriots win ties the largest shutout victory by an NFL team since the AFL-NFL merger. The Rams matched the score with a win over the Falcons in 1976…

The Patriots improved to 11-0 all-time in games in Foxborough when the snow has fallen during the game…

New England’s 45-0 halftime lead was the largest halftime lead in NFL history.

– TOM KING