LONDON — At a news conference after his team arrived in London, coach Bill Belichick seemed less than thrilled with the prospect of facing the Rams not in St. Louis but in the United Kingdom.

But something about playing at Wembley Stadium agrees with Belichick’s Patriots: After looking shaky in their previous three games, they were dominant against an up-and-coming Rams team.

New England scored on its first six drives (five touchdowns and a field goal) Sunday and pitched a shutout for three-plus quarters for a 45-7 win.

The Patriots head into a much-needed bye week at 5-3.

However, the Patriots’ return home was up in the air because of Hurricane Sandy. It would have been difficult to fly home Sunday night even without the storm, since planes are not allowed to leave Heathrow Airport after 11 p.m. The team’s intention when it left for the trip was to stay until midday Monday.

But after the game, the Patriots decided they would leave London at 5 a.m. Monday local time, hoping to beat the storm to Boston.

The Patriots rebounded from a shaky performance against the Jets a week earlier.

“That was a nice way to end this trip,” Belichick said, his demeanor Sunday far different than it was on Friday morning. “The players get a lot of credit this week — had a tough game against the Jets, we moved everything up this week [because of the travel]. I’m really proud of the way the players performed. I give them all the credit in the world.

“It’s been a tough few weeks with Seattle and this trip, but they didn’t let it affect them. I have a lot of respect for the Rams; they’re a good football team. But we had a good day today, and the players did a real good job, all three units.”

The victory was the best wire-to-wire performance of the season for the Patriots, with the offense getting off to a fast start, the defense able to overcome an early stumble, and special teams ensuring that the Rams never began a drive past their 29.

“Everybody stuck together,” defensive lineman Vince Wilfork said. “It feels good to finally put one game together as a team, doing a lot of things correctly, just playing good football all the way around.

“Guys can see that when we play together and don’t hurt ourselves, we can be a dangerous football team.”

Their one major defensive lapse came on St. Louis’s first possession.

Quarterback Sam Bradford got his team to midfield, and on first down ran a play-action, then waited until Chris Givens got open downfield. Givens got a step on Tavon Wilson, Devin McCourty got to the play a step late, and Givens made the catch as he was falling over the goal line for a touchdown.

It was the fifth straight game in which Givens had a catch of at least 50 yards, a record for a rookie. Given the Patriots’ propensity for giving up big pass plays this season — it was the 39th of more than 20 yards they’ve allowed — it also was easy to feel that perhaps it was the start of a long day.

McCourty, again playing safety with Patrick Chung and Steve Gregory out, liked how his teammates responded after the TD.

“I think [earlier] in the season, that kills us, giving up a big play, we put our heads down and give up another one,” McCourty said. “I thought we did a good job today of putting that play past us, then playing great defense after that.”

The 7-0 lead didn’t last long for the Rams, who fell to 3-5 and were the first NFC West team the Patriots have beaten this year, after losses to Arizona and Seattle.

When the Patriots got the ball, an incompletion to Brandon Lloyd on third and short became a first down because Rams cornerback Bradley Fletcher was called for the first of his three pass-interference penalties.

Tom Brady took full advantage of the second chance, and on third and 1 from the 19 he hit an open Lloyd for Lloyd’s second touchdown as a Patriot.

Lloyd had two receptions, both of them for touchdowns; he added a 9-yarder in the third quarter.

On New England’s second possession, the amped-up crowd, which featured fans wearing jerseys of nearly every team in the league, learned that St. Louis apparently forgot that a certain large individual named Rob Gronkowski plays tight end.

After a 20-yard run by Stevan Ridley on second down, Brady hit Gronkowski, open over the middle, for 25 yards, and two plays later Gronkowski had another 25-yard grab, being taken down just short of the goal line.

Shane Vereen scored on a 1-yard run for a 14-7 lead.