The New England Patriots players are away on a bit of a fall vacation, enjoying their three-day bye weekend in places like Pittsburgh, where Leigh Bodden was inducted into the Duquesne Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday, or Louisiana, where Kevin Faulk returned home to see his Louisiana State Tigers take on Tulane and spend some time with family.

The Pats spent a few days last week fine-tuning their own play, and will return on Monday to begin preparations for their first meeting this season with Miami.

All of which means there’s not a lot Pats-related material to write about this Sunday. So why not have a little fun and look back at the team to this point? Some superlatives seemed like a good idea, some the tried-and-true that make their way into high school yearbooks, and some with more of a Patriots flavor.

Most Likely to Succeed: Darius Butler

A host of teams had the UConn star slated as a first-round pick, but when New England got to selecting their third (of four) second-round picks last April, Butler was still there, and the team claimed him. Listed at 5-foot-10, 185 pounds, Butler has seen his playing time go up each week, and has flashed ball-hawking skills reminiscent of Asante Samuel. He has recorded an interception in each of the last two games.

Most Dependable: Wes Welker

What do you know? Here it is Week 8 of the NFL season and once again Welker is leading the league in catches, with 46, and that’s in spite of missing two games. Every time Tom Brady is looking for someone to throw to, Welker is there.

Biggest Surprise: Brandon McGowan

When New England signed McGowan, a career reserve with the Bears, to a free-agent contract, the move was met with little fanfare. But McGowan has been a hard-hitting addition to the secondary, with two forced fumbles (including wresting the ball from Buffalo’s Leodis McKelvin in the opener, setting up the Pats’ game-winning drive), and has supplanted James Sanders as a starting safety. He says his playing style is “reckless,” and in this case, reckless gets results.

Biggest Disappointment: Joey Galloway

Galloway still has his speed, but in New England that just wasn’t enough. When Brady is spotted yelling at you on the sidelines, things can’t be good, and they weren’t. When Belichick says the team has “moved on,” things didn’t go well, and they didn’t with Galloway.

Just Plain Biggest: Sebastian Vollmer

Even at a position where being larger-than-life is a requirement, Vollmer is larger than most. The German-born rookie is rock-solid, listed at 6-foot-8, 315 pounds, and is the tallest player on the Pats’ roster. He has started the last two games at left tackle due to Matt Light’s knee injury and for the most part has done pretty well, save for the two holding penalties he received against Tampa Bay — on the same drive.

Team Spirit: Junior Seau

How else to describe it? Seau loves Bill Belichick, loves Robert Kraft, loves the Patriots. At 40 years old, Seau was spending his days tending to his business ventures in his hometown of San Diego and as a spectator at his children’s sporting events, but when Belichick called, he answered, as promised, and is playing his 20th season.

Team Scholar: Jerod Mayo

Belichick has said about many a player that “no one works harder than (insert name here),” but we’re betting that if Belichick was given truth serum and asked that about this year’s squad, he’d admit that no one works harder than Mayo. A film junkie, the linebacker has become an unquestioned leader in just his second NFL season — and respect like that only comes with an unflagging work ethic and results on the field.

Best Dressed: Tom Brady

Or at least, that’s what Welker seems to think. The quarterback and receiver have begun taking playful swipes at one another in the media, and last week in London when Welker was asked about the pinstriped suit Brady was wearing, he said of the frequent model, “I think they sew them on him.”

Best Catch: Benjamin Watson

To the media and fans at least, Watson’s days seemed numbered after he posted the lowest numbers since his rookie year in 2008. But from Game One, Brady has showed his faith in the tight end, connecting with him for the game-winning touchdown against the Bills. Watson has four touchdowns thus far, doubling his number of trips to the end zone from last season.

Team MVP: Randy Moss

Has done everything asked of him, and every bit has been needed: when Welker missed two games, it was Moss who ran the underneath routes and went across the middle, and also played with a great deal of back pain against Atlanta to make sure Brady had a dependable receiver available. He even pulled in his first career interception on a Hail Mary attempt in Denver.

smanza@projo.com