As the NFL comes to grip with loss of one of its young and the Bengals grieve the death of teammate Chris Henry, Patriots cornerback Darius Butler needs to reflect only a few weeks back to relate an experience of his own to what Cincinnati's going through.

In the early morning hours of Oct. 18, UConn cornerback Jasper Howard -- a protege of Butler's -- was fatally stabbed after a dispute outside the student union. Just hours later, Butler suited up and played in the Patriots' 59-0 win over the Titans.

That Sunday, Butler made his first NFL start, got his first pick as a pro, and was the only Patriot defender to play all 51 of the snaps.

When I asked him if it was difficult to take the field that day, he said, "Kind of, focusing on the game, with that on the back of your mind. It was a challenge to play the next day, but it was something that was good for me – to get out there and play."

One thing Butler emphasized was that there simply was no "forgetting" about it, even for a three-hour football game.

"You can’t really block it out," he said. "Football can be an outlet for it, but you can’t really forget about it. It’s tough, and it’s gonna be tough for a while, especially being surrounded by it like that team will be, with his locker still there and stuff. It’s tough. I know every person deals with it differently."

And that's why, as he watched his old UConn teammates win at Notre Dame, Butler had a pretty good idea of the kind of release it was for them a few weeks later.

"They were surrounded by it, some of the guys were with him," Butler said. "Some of the guys were closer to him than other people. It can be real tough, any team, any friends that have to deal with someone close to them passing."