"I think everyone woke up to the snow (on Wednesday)," Thomas said. "I didn't know it was going to snow. There was traffic. I can't run people over getting to work. I don't do that. I actually almost had a car accident. It is what it is. (Belichick) did what he thought was best for him. That's what he did.

"I don't want people to think I just didn't show up and I didn't have a reason," Thomas added. "That's not true. That's not the case at all."

Thomas said he arrived at the stadium "at 8:09 or something like that." He said the four players were not traveling together. Thomas said he thought he was following proper protocol when he notified the team he was going to be late.

"There's one thing about Mother Nature - you can't control that," Thomas said. "You can't run people over getting to work. There's nothing to apologize about. I wasn't trying to be late. That's basically it. I don't know what to say. You leave home, there are people there, cars sitting in the road. You're sitting there. What are you gonna do? It's not `The Jetsons.' I can't jump and fly. What am I supposed to do?"

Moss and Guyton were spotted walking through the Patriots locker room to the weight room yesterday morning. All four players were back at practice yesterday afternoon.

The Patriots have not played well while dropping back-to-back games for the first time since 2006. Quarterback Tom Brady questioned his team's fight after the 22-21 loss in Miami and on Wednesday emphasized "making the commitment to each other." Brady, by the way, was on time Wednesday, despite the snow and his wife, Gisele Bundchen, giving birth to a baby boy.

Were Belichick's disciplinary actions meant to motivate?

"Motivation is for kindergartners," Thomas said. "I'm not a kindergartner. Sending somebody home, that's like, `You're expelled until you come back and make good grades.' Get that (crap) out of here. That's ridiculous."

Thomas, in the midst of one of the most unproductive seasons of his career, expressed shock earlier this year when he was benched for New England's game against the Titans. It was the first time since Thomas' rookie season of 2000 that he was a healthy scratch.

"I can't figure out what Bill thinks or knows," Thomas said. "I just do what I'm told and I try to do it in a professional manner.

"A lot of things I'm dumbfounded by," Thomas added, "not just by (being sent home), but you just roll with it. I'm an Indian. I'm not the chief."

Thomas, in the fourth year of a five-year, $35 million contract he signed as a free agent in 2006, has underperformed this season. A 10-year veteran and two-time Pro Bowl selection, he has 27 tackles and three sacks this season. He had a total of three tackles in the last two games. Thomas spent the first seven years of his career in Baltimore, where he averaged 96 tackles and more than nine sacks from 2004-06.

Thomas said after Belichick told him to leave on Wednesday he "went home, enjoyed my day off, put my toes up in the air and relaxed." He said he also watched film on Carolina, this week's opponent. "I had a lot of free time on my hands," Thomas said.

Thomas was asked if he thought Wednesday's events could be a distraction as the Patriots try to get their season back on track.

"It will be determined on Sunday," Thomas said. "We play well it will be this whole great thing, if it doesn't then (the media) will come back to this whole thing and say it's a distraction."