FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas said Thursday he was surprised he was sent home by coach Bill Belichick for being late to a team meeting.
Thomas was one of four players who were sent home for tardiness on Wednesday. He said that he was surprised because he had called ahead to say he might be late as players are instructed to do. Thomas also said he almost got into a car accident as he drove to Gillette Stadium during a snowfall that tied up traffic.
"I think everyone woke up to the snow yesterday," 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. He did what he thought was best for him. That's what he did."
Thomas said he showed up about nine minutes late for the 8 a.m. meeting and was told by Belichick to leave. Thomas also said he doesn't know how Belichick thinks and he's dumbfounded by a lot of things that go on, but he just does what he's told.
Asked whether he thought Belichick was trying to motivate the players by sending them home, he had a strong response.
"Motivation is for kindergartners. I'm not a kindergartner," Thomas said. "Sending somebody home, that's like, 'He's expelled, come back and make good grades.' Get that [expletive] out of here. That's ridiculous. Motivation?"
All four of the players -- Thomas, WR Randy Moss, LB Gary Guyton and DE Derrick Burgess -- were present at the start of practice Thursday.
Thomas broke out a cartoon reference when asked about being stuck in traffic, saying, "What do you do? It's not the Jetsons, I can't jump up and just fly. What the heck am I supposed to do?"
Thomas, who was a healthy scratch for a game earlier this year, acknowledged this has been a frustrating season.
"Real frustrating. But it is what it is," Thomas said. "One thing about being a professional, there are good things and bad things. So you know there are a lot of things you can say or whatever. It's just not a good time. I don't want people to think -- it was put out there like I just didn't show up or didn't have a reason, and nobody knew. That's not true. That's not the case at all. That being the case, I was trying to be a professional and let them know traffic is bad and I might not make it on time. After you do that, there is nothing else you can really do."
Moss didn't talk to the media while the locker room was open.
The Associated Press and ESPNBoston.com Patriots reporter Mike Reiss contributed to this report.