FOXBORO, Mass. -- While his teammates celebrated last Sunday's 48-14 laugher over the Carolina Panthers, Kurt Warner was in pain. His right thumb ached, but that's normal. Messed-up ligaments and swelling has bothered him since the Rams' Week 1 win over the Eagles.

But Warner ached emotionally. He wasn't himself. He threw for only 144 yards and had three more passes intercepted. So as the players headed out of the Dome at America's Center, Warner stayed around to get a shot of cortisone in the right side of his right thumb.

	Kurt Warner had some extra zip on his passes in throwing for 401 yards and three touchdowns.

"I had a lot of swelling in the knuckle," Warner said. "It affected my movement and my strength. I couldn't get my thumb to the point where I could squeeze the ball, so I was trying to get the swelling out of there and try to make it pain free."

That cortisone injection is the shot in the arm that the Rams needed in what appears to be their second Super Bowl run in three seasons. Patriots coach Bill Belichick tried to fluster Warner on Sunday night with wild combinations of five, six and seven defensive backs, but Warner made the Patriots look as though they were all thumbs trying to stop him in a efficient 24-17 victory that wasn't as close at it looked.

"I watched Kurt in warm-ups and I've never seen him like this," Rams coach Mike Martz said of Warner's throwing.

Warner completed 30 of 42 for 401 yards and three touchdowns. Yet what was more impressive was the velocity of many of Warner's throws. "He was throwing the ball with such zip," halfback Marshall Faulk said. "I don't think I broke stride on a couple of those throws."

For weeks, Warner has been hearing the critics discuss his recent rash of turnovers. It bothered him, and he knew he wasn't playing as his best. Heading into the game, he knew his thumb finally felt right.

"At first, I wondered why I hadn't taken the shot during the first eight weeks," Warner said.

He fired a 16-yard touchdown pass to Torry Holt to open a 7-0 lead less than six minutes into the first quarter. Later in the quarter, though, Ricky Proehl cut a crossing route in a way that it almost caused a collision with a teammate and that well-thrown pass went for an interception. Then, Warner was a little early releasing a pass in the next series that was picked off by linebacker Tedy Bruschi.

For Warner, that was nine interceptions in the past nine quarters and 13 for the season. Enough was enough. Feeling better with the thumb, Warner started to bear down and focus. That was bad news for the Patriots.

"My thumb feels good again," Warner said. "So it's exciting to get back out there and throw the ball the way you want to. We made a couple of mistakes early on, but we corrected that."

Belichick used many of the zany packages he has tried over the years to confuse the Doug Fluties and Peyton Mannings and added an extra wrinkle. To confuse Warner, the Patriots spent more of the first quarter in six- and seven-defensive back schemes than regular formations. Using that many defensive backs, Belichick could order zone blitzes in which his fastest players -- the cornerbacks -- could charge in alongside the three or four defenders rushing from the defensive line.

"They blitzed us as soon as we came off the bus," Martz said.

With so many defensive backs on the field, Warner tried to find his rhythm. The first-quarter interceptions handed the Patriots a 10-7 lead. Terrell Buckley, who came on normally as the seventh defensive back, returned Warner's first interception 52 yards for a touchdown.

Warner wasn't flustered because he knew if he had a non-swollen thumb, he had everything. Trailing 10-7 late in the second quarter, the Rams got a break. Halfback Antowain Smith kept struggling for an extra yard or two on a run at the Rams' 4. Linebacker London Fletcher stripped the ball from Smith's hands. Cornerback Aeneas Williams recovered at the Rams' 3 with 2:12 left in the half.

Then came the show. Warner rifled a 22-yard completion to tight end Jeff Robinson and three consecutive completions to Proehl of 20, 19 and 10 yards. Suddenly, the Patriots' complex, disguised secondary looked easy. Martz called more crossing patterns to open up the middle, and Warner handled the rest.

	“	Once (Warner) gets in a rhythm, he's something. The Patriots tried to keep using their extra defensive backs to keep guessing which guy was coming out of the formation to get the ball. It didn't work. ”
		— Marshall Faulk, Rams running back

A 97-yard, game-winning touchdown drive ended with Warner hitting a 9-yard pass to Faulk. Overall, Warner completed seven of eight passes for 97 yards, the only incompletion being a spiked ball before the touchdown.

At 8-1, the Rams finally had a rallying point to signify this season. The 97-yard touchdown drive following Fletcher's stripped fumble defined this team in the eyes of Martz.

"The telling point for the whole season, no matter what happens the rest of this year, is when the defense took the ball away at the 3 and we took it 97 yards before the half," Martz said. "That says it all in my mind about what this team is about."

It showed that the Rams have finally blended the right mix of defense to go with an incredible offense. Faulk might be the Rams' most valuable offensive player, but the heart of the offense is still the quarterback.

"Once he gets in a rhythm, he's something," Faulk said. "The Patriots tried to keep using their extra defensive backs to keep guessing which guy was coming out of the formation to get the ball. It didn't work."

It didn't work because of Warner's accuracy. In the second half alone, Warner was 14-for-18 for 170 yards and wasn't sacked after the intermission. Except for a third quarter fumbled snap, Warner was flawless.

Still, Warner knows that the thumb will be a concern for the remainder of the season. It's such a concern to Martz that he doesn't mind excusing Warner for long stretches of practice during the week.

"I'm not taking as many reps and I keep the thumb wrapped during the week," Warner said. "I took anti-inflammatory drugs during the week and I work hard on the maintenance part. It really responded well so far. The shot has worn off, but I'm not going to get a second shot. I don't know if it's possible to do it more than two times in a season."

So if it troubles him again, Warner can rely on the needle one more time to bail out the Rams. Of course, with the best record in the NFL at 8-1, there isn't much to worry about. They have a game lead on the 49ers in the NFC West, and in throwing for 401 yards in 49-degree temperatures, the Rams can try to get homefield advantage in the playoffs and have only one more game outside, against the 1-8 Panthers.

"I don't throw well in the cold," Warner joked after heating up the Patriots on Sunday.

Yeah, right. The Rams are 11-4 in cold-weather games since 1999.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.