LONDON -- The bye week will be enjoyable for the Patriots, after all.
A first-half of the season marked by disappointments, injuries and less-than-stellar play came to a close Sunday in historic Wembley Stadium with New England's best game of the season. The Pats put points on the board the first six times they got the ball and cruised to a surprisingly easy victory over St. Louis, 45-7.
The New England offense was dominant both in the air and on the ground. But what has to make the team feel better as it heads to its week off is that everything came together.
The defense allowed a touchdown on the game's opening possession, but then turned in some of its best work of the season. Among other changes, the Pats used more blitzes than they have in any game all season, which helped create heavy pressure on Rams quarterback Sam Bradford, including two sacks and a host of hurries.
The special teams also outplayed St. Louis, helping to set up one score when the Rams botched a field-goal attempt. Everything went right.
"That was a nice way to end the trip for us," said Pats' coach Bill Belichick. "They (his players) had a couple tough couple weeks here with the Seattle trip, then this trip. They didn't let it affect them. They just took care of business, played a good, solid football game."
"It was a fun day for us offensively. Yeah, that was a fun day for us," said Tom Brady, who threw for yards and four touchdowns. "It's great to come on a trip like this, put everything into it. We've got the bye next week. It's a good feeling. I'm sure the guys will have fun tonight."
St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher found it hard to believe that the Patriots are only 5-3 and were struggling before coming into Wembley.
"What is required to beat a team that good on both sides of the ball is a near perfect game," Fisher said. "Obviously, we were unable to do that today. Tom (Brady) got a hot hand and had a good sense and those guys (his receivers, led by Rob Gronkowski and Brandon Lloyd, each of whom had two touchdowns) made a lot of plays for him.
"They're a good football team," Fisher offered.
The Patriots now have outscored their opponents, 77-14, in two victories in Wembley, which prompted one of the British writers to ask Belichick how much he enjoyed playing in England.
"I certainly like the results," Belichick shot back.
As might be expected, the sometimes taciturn coach was in an upbeat mood. He passed out praised for his team in all directions. The team went to three wide receiver sets much of the day, rather than the three tight end sets it used in the early part of the season with a healthy Aaron Hernandez and mixed in an effective ground game led by Stevan Ridley, who drove and spun his way to 127 yards on 15 carries.
"We tried to get in formations and personnel groups that we feel like could give us an edge one way or the other, either on the play, a pre-snap, get an indication of what they're going to do, a matchup that we could create," Belichick said. "Tom did a good job finding those. We blocked well. We threw the ball well. We gained some yards in the running game, scored in the red zone; didn't turn the ball over. So it's good execution offensively, a lot of good things there."
"Overall I thought we did a lot of good things defensively, but it wasn't perfect certainly," Belichick said. "There were a lot of things we can continue to work on."
New England was so consistent that it put points on the board in each of its first six possessions, five touchdowns and a field goal. The Pats had only four possessions in the first half and scored touchdowns on all of them for a 28-7 lead at the break. Brady connected on each of his first eight passes.
The day's highlight was a 7-yard touchdown pass to Gronkowski in the second quarter. Gronkowski made it fun because he got to show off his trademark spike again, this time with a stiff-legged Buckingham Palace guard march added in. Gronkowski also had a 14-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter. Lloyd, who had been struggling, had touchdown receptions of 19 and 9 yards.
Shane Vereen went over from the 1 on a fourth-down play in the first minute of the second quarter and Ridley scored from the one in the final minute of the first half.
When the offense was not piling up yards, the New England defense played some of its best ball of the season, holding the Rams scoreless over the last 57 minutes after St. Louis had driven 80 yards for a touchdown after receiving the opening kickoff. The touchdown came on a 50-yard pass to rookie Chris Givens, which set an NFL record. He is the first rookie to catch a pass of at least 50 yards in five straight games.
The Patriots played more aggressively on defense than they had in their early games, sending not only linebackers, but even a corner blitz on one play. The defense had two sacks but also had a number of other hits on Bradford.
The crowd of 84,004 seemed evenly divided rooting for the two teams.