Like the boy maybe or maybe not riding in the helium balloon, we have to ask ourselves just what exactly we saw. With snow obscuring the October sky, with a Titans team that apparently is that bad and with a game that got out of hand, it was hard to know what to make of the Patriots' thrashing of the Titans.

More salient: Is the big play back in the Patriots' offensive arsenal?

Does one big game — really, one big quarter — mean the Patriots have solved their offensive issues?

The answer is: You can't really answer that yet. But we're close to finding out.

Sure, the Patriots were tremendous against the Titans, in bad conditions no less. They struck with lethal effectiveness, capitalizing on turnovers and smelling blood in the water.

On a day when Adalius Thomas and Joey Galloway were inactive (Galloway was released Tuesday), the Patriots rolled up a franchise-record 59 points on the hapless Titans and turned back the clock to the vintage New England teams of yore. There were scoring plays of 45, 40, 28, 38, 30, five and nine yards, and the Pats were as efficient as they have been perhaps since 2007. In the second quarter alone, they scored 35 points and had 281 yards of offense. It was unlike anything WR Wes Welker had seen in a quarter before, even though he was involved in some shootouts at Texas Tech.

"Except the defense was playing really well here," Welker said, "so that'd be the one difference from Texas Tech."

Tom Brady looked like the '07 Brady, the 50-TD Brady, and with his six TD passes in just over a half's worth of football, he matched his personal mark from '07.

Welker and Randy Moss were toying with the Titans' young, helpless cornerbacks.

And the running game was a shot in the arm, especially when Laurence Maroney was in the game, running hard and with a purpose.

"I think we were just sick of hearing (Brady and Bill Belichick talking about the lack of big plays)," Welker said. "I think we just wanted to shut them up."

But this Titans defense was so bad, you thought the team had been replaced by retired legends of the Houston Oilers franchise that the NFL was commemorating.

 "It's important for the offense to get (big plays) when they are there," Brady said. "We had a couple of opportunities today, and Coach Belichick was on us pretty tough for being the only team to not have a 40-yard pass play all season.

"Hopefully, we can hold him back for a week or two."

This team has a distinct similarity to its 2006 model. The Patriots nearly were blanked at home by Denver that season and lost back-to-back games to the Colts and Jets at home. It was not pretty at midseason. But they still managed to crush the Bengals, Vikings and Packers and drop 40 apiece on the Titans and Texans.

People underestimated that 12-4 Patriots team, and they held a 21-3 lead at Indianapolis in the AFC title game. Had they beaten the Colts in that game, the Patriots would have won the Super Bowl that year.

This year's Pats feel similar. They can look bad one game, unbelievable the next, and by playoff time they will be a tough team to handicap. But this much is a lock: You can't close the door on them. No matter how bad the Titans are, 59 points are 59 points. These Patriots still can bring it.

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