Patriots are good when it counts against St. Louis

FOXBOROUGH – This wasn’t the same St. Louis team that started the season 0-4 and got its head coach, Scott Linehan, fired.The team that did show up at Gillette Stadium on Sunday made things absolutely miserable for the New England Patriots.But when the chips were down, the Rams were still the Rams and New England finished like a champion.Matt Cassel’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Faulk with 3:13 left in regulation capped a career day for the fourth-year quarterback out of USC and gave the Patriots a closer-than-expected 23-16 win over St. Louis.Coupled with Buffalo’s loss to Miami on Sunday, the Pats now find themselves in a first-place tie atop the AFC East standings with the Bills at 5-2 by virtue of the win”This was a good example of having to play for 60 minutes,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “We got contributions from everybody up and down the line and the offense made big plays in the fourth quarter.”Showing renewed life under interim coach Jim Haslett, St. Louis pushed the Patriots to the brink of defeat several times. But every time the Rams pushed, New England rallied with a shove to get back in the game.”Jim has done a great job over there with that team,” Belichick said. “We had our hands full, just like we thought we would.”The Rams (2-5) played admirably considering the fact that they were without star running back Steven Jackson, who was inactive after trying to warm up with a right thigh injury.What St. Louis did have, though, was quarterback Mark Bulger and wide receiver Donnie Avery.Bulger was 18-of-34 for 301 yards and a touchdown while Avery, a rookie from Houston, caught six passes for 163 yards and a touchdown.”The numbers don’t count if you can’t get the win,” Avery said. “We just didn’t get it done (Sunday).”The Patriots’ defense allowed only the 69-yard touchdown to Avery and three chip-shot field goals from Josh Brown while the offense turned up the heat in the fourth quarter.”The last two weeks, we’ve really stepped up on offense,” Cassel said. “Everybody is starting to work together and we’re playing with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.”Perhaps no one was bigger than Kevin Faulk on Sunday.The veteran’s role was increased with Sammy Morris on the inactive list, forcing rookie BenJarvus Green-Ellis to start. But it was the LSU grad who got the Patriots over the hump.Faulk rushed for 60 yards and caught four passes for 47 yards, the last of which was the game-winner with 3:13 to go.After Cassel (21-33, 267 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT) hit Randy Moss (7 catches, 102 yards) for gains of three, eight and 23 yards that got the Patriots in position to go ahead, Faulk did the rest.On first-and-10 at the 15, Faulk put a double move on a Rams linebacker and caught a Cassel pass in the left corner of the end zone to give New England the lead.”Kevin has made a lot of big plays in his time here,” Belichick said.Faulk also was appreciative of the chance to take center stage.”I think that’s what you come in for,” Faulk said. “You don’t have a lot of opportunities sometimes, but the thing is, you always have to be ready because you don’t know when the situation is going to come up.”Cassel also stepped up and put the team on his back in the fourth quarter despite being constantly harried and sacked three times in the second half.”He is poised and does a great job of running that offense,” Rams cornerback Ron Bartell said. “He does a good job of not putting them in bad situations ? He does a great job of controlling the offense and I think they can win with him.”Cassel was pleased to see that his offense can do the job when the game’s on the line.”This was a big game for us because we had to come back in the face of adversity and everybody stepped up,” Cassel said. “The offensive line gave me great time in the pocket and that was huge for the passing game.”Being 5-2 despite all the injuries suffered by starters this season, you’d think that the Patriots would be happy. But leave it to fullback Heath Evans to sum that