FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — One look at Titans GM Mike Reinfeldt, walking away in frustration from his press-box seat after each of the Patriots' nine scoring plays, told the whole story.

And if that image is not enough, take head coach Jeff Fisher's account of the Titans' locker-room mood after the game: "It was less than celebratory."

The Patriots led 45-0, the largest deficit at halftime in NFL history. And when the third quarter started, QB Tom Brady — who had five TD passes and 345 yards at that point — came back into the game.

Did he think his afternoon would continue after the large deficit of points?

"Yes," Brady said, almost defiantly smiling. "Yes, I did."

But was there something larger at work here? More to the point, did Bill Belichick run up the score?

It looked like a score his friend Urban Meyer would put up on Florida A&M to boost his BCS ranking. But this was professional football, and very few games in the NFL's history — before or after the merger — have ended in such slaughter.

"I've been playing sports since I was 8," Titans LB Keith Bulluck said, "and never in any sport have I experienced anything like this. I guess the problem was that we could not stop them."

That was the problem. The Titans' defense has gone from a top-10 unit to a bottom-three unit in less than a year's time. Even the run defense, a saving grace coming into this game, was gashed for 193 yards and two TDs on 30 carries.

But when Brady came back into the game in the third quarter and threw on six of the first nine plays, mostly out of the shotgun and mostly with four and five wide receivers, it appeared a little odd.

Patriots LB Jerod Mayo explained Belichick's halftime message: "At halftime, Coach (Belichick) said to forget the first half and come back and play just as hard in the second half."

This sight is not new. It happened several times in 2007, when the team was breaking scoreboards with its weekly offensive sorties. I remember Belichick rhetorically asking after a game against the Cowboys in Dallas when the Patriots were going for it on fourth downs in the fourth quarter up 21 points, "What do you want us to do, punt?"

Granted, Brady was in for only one series in the third. But the Patriots threw the ball 11 more times after that and continued to run their offense, with Wes Welker (10 catches, 150 yards, two TDs) still on the field a lot. He returned a punt with three minutes remaining.

"You only have 45 guys in the game; somebody's got to play," Belichick explained. "The guys that are here have got to play."

Fisher didn't have too much to say on the matter, fielding questions about his job security for the first time in a few seasons. "I guess fortunately for me, career-wise, I have never been through anything like this before," he said. "I can assure you one thing: it will never happen again."

He chalked up the Patriots' modus operandi as a team doing what it does for 60 minutes. "That was their game plan coming in," he said. "Why are they going to change their plan?"

Although Fisher and Belichick likely have respect for each other's coaching abilities, Belichick probably didn't like Fisher's comments at the Scouting Combine a few years ago where he, as a member of the competition committee, made it clear that Belichick should've known better than to get caught up in the "Spygate" saga. "The rules are clear," Fisher said in 2008.

And this much also is clear: Belichick doesn't let up on the football field. He wants to win by blowout every week. And that might not be a bad thing.

"It's up to us as a defense to stop them and we just couldn't get them stopped when we needed to," Bulluck said.

Patriots S Brandon McGowan said he knows what it's like to be on the other side of a crushing. "My sophomore year (at Maine) we lost 76-6," he said. "That doesn't feel good. But this felt good. The offense was going crazy, Tom (Brady) was on fire and the defense was playing great. It was all great."

Give the Titans this much: No one on their side or any Patriots thought they gave up in the second half, even facing this brutal score.

"It was not about them giving up," Patriots RB Kevin Faulk. "It was about us continuing to play throughout the game no matter what went on during the game."

Fisher wasn't the only one worried about his job. Collins, who completed 2-of-12 passes for minus-7 yards with a fumble and an interception, was pulled for Vince Young (who was 0-for-2 with a pick) and faces a bye week's worth of speculation about his spot as the starting QB. But he said he didn't think his team or his coach threw in the towel at any point.

"We are professionals," Collins said. "We are expected to play hard every play and compete. I think guys did that. I don't think I saw anyone out there that wasn't competing or (who) quit. That is expected every week."

Just like you should expect a Belichick-coached team to play a full 60 minutes. He coaches his players to compete and win, and no one should be surprised by this. So whether the score is 45-0, 59-0 or whatever, like Fisher said, you know what you are getting with the Patriots as long as Belichick is coach: a game plan that will be carried out to the fullest extent.

"Look, we're not trying to do anything but run our offense," Belichick said. "We went into the game with a game plan, and I know the score got out of hand, but we were just trying to run our offense when (backup QB) Brian (Hoyer) or whoever else was in there, whether it was (backups) Kendall (Simmons), Dan (Connolly), BenJarvus (Green-Ellis), and all those guys (who) got to play.

"When they were in there, we've got to do what we've got to do. Somebody's got to play."

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