Tully Banta-Cain released by Patriots

A day after the Patriots created a widespread case of head scratching by deactivating linebacker Adalius Thomas, the Pats have sent fingers back to scalps throughout the football-watching world by cutting linebacker Tully Banta-Cain.

Per a league source, the Pats cuts the veteran defender on Monday.

“New England cutting him doesn’t make sense,” the source said.  “He was playing pretty well for them.”

Banta-Cain was drafted by the Patriots in 2003.  He signed with the 49ers in 2007.  San Fran cut him in February 2009, and he re-signed a week later with the Patriots.

He appeared in all six regular-season games, starting twice.

Because the trade deadline has not passed, Banta-Cain will not pass through waivers.  However, he’ll be entitled to collect the remainder of his $620,000 base salary as termination pay, even if he signs with another team.

Boston Patriots Beat The Oilers 59-0

This was the Tom Brady everyone expects to see.

Brady threw six touchdown passes – five in one quarter, an NFL mark – and the New England Patriots sent the hapless Tennessee Titans plummeting to a new low in their winless season with a 59-0 win on a snowy Sunday.

Brady had five TD passes in the second quarter, a record for one period. The six touchdown throws tied Brady’s own Patriots record. And the 59-point margin matched the largest since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the Los Angeles Rams’ 59-0 win over the Atlanta Falcons in 1976.

The Patriots (4-2) gained a club-record 619 yards with Brady completing 29 of 34 passes for 380 yards.

The Titans (0-6) took their worst loss since they began play in 1960 as the Houston Oilers, eclipsing the 61-7 setback to Cincinnati in 1989. They won their first 10 games last season.

The white-and-powder-blue throwback uniforms the Titans wore to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the AFL may have been the only resemblance to that team that won that league’s inaugural championship.

The Titans couldn’t even stop New England when Brian Hoyer, a free agent rookie from Michigan State, took over for Brady on the second series of the third quarter with the score 52-0. He completed 9 of 11 passes for 52 yards in his pro debut and scored on a 1-yard run on his first series.