St. Louis defenders didn't know what hit them

ST. LOUIS -- It seems most everyone on the St. Louis sideline figured out the Patriots were up to something when they lined up for a field goal midway through the third quarter. The problem was they couldn't get the message to the 11 Rams on the field at the time.

The result was a 4-yard touchdown pass from Adam Vinatieri, yes, that Adam Vinatieri, to Troy Brown that gave New England a 26-14 lead and sent it on its way to a 40-22 victory.

The Rams' poor defense on the fake field goal angered coach Mike Martz, who saw Brown run toward the sideline before stopping. None of the Rams caught on.

"He ran out there, and I could see it from the sidelines," Martz said. "That wasn't the trickiest thing in the world. Where was [Brown] going? To the john?

"I am standing on the sideline, and I could see it. I'm running to call a timeout, because we obviously didn't see it. That is ridiculous. We have to pay more attention than that."

St. Louis defensive tackle Damione Lewis was on the field during the fake.

"We weren't even lined up," he said. "He threw that out to the corner and it was over."

St. Louis running back Marshall Faulk knew what was happening while watching from the sideline.

"I saw it developing, I watched them," he said. "We just couldn't relay it to [the defensive players] quick enough."

For the first half, the St. Louis defense wasn't exactly the Steel Curtain revisited but at least did a decent job of keeping New England out of the end zone. The Patriots scored on five of their seven first-half possessions, but settled for field goals four of those times.

After seemingly keeping New England out of the end zone again, this defensive lapse was a backbreaker. "It's like, golly, we can't give up a touchdown like that," Lewis said. "It's like, what are we doing."

St. Louis defensive end Leonard Little said the Rams went over defending against fake field goals during practice Friday, but didn't execute.

"It was a great play," Little said. "We were aware [it could happen]. It was just another mistake we made."

The Rams entered the game with the league's 28th-ranked defense, and did nothing to improve that standing yesterday. The Patriots' Tom Brady completed 18 of 31 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns. Corey Dillon notched his third consecutive 100-yard game after missing the Pittsburgh game with a thigh bruise.

He gained 64 of his 112 yards in the second half to help the Patriots hold their lead.

The Rams even allowed New England outside linebacker Mike Vrabel to score on a 2-yard pass from Brady in the second quarter.

Lewis and Little were involved in the Rams' lone defensive bright spot. Early in the second quarter, Lewis forced Brady to fumble, and Little recovered in the end zone to give the Rams a 7-6 lead. In the end, the Rams couldn't overcome their defensive and special teams blunders.

It was the second consecutive game in which the Rams defense collapsed. St. Louis lost, 31-14, two weeks ago at previously winless Miami.

"We've got to go to work," Lewis said. "There's no need to go in the tank. This is the NFL. As far as we know, we could run the table."