Last modified: Friday, August 31, 2007 12:23 AM EDT Giants running back Brandon Jacobs (27) is swarmed by Patriot defenders. (Staff photo by Keith Nordstrom) Patriots put in their time BY MARK FARINELLA / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF FOXBORO - Heath Evans stood in front of his locker Thursday night and summed up Thursday night's game in a nutshell. "It's hard to say you're not looking forward to the Jets," the Patriots' fullback said, "but this was a necessary evil to perform better and to take further steps to get this offense better. It is what it is it's the fourth preseason game." It certainly wasn't an artistic success, even though the Patriots emerged victorious over the New York Giants, 27-20, and avoided finishing with a losing preseason record for only the second time in Bill Belichick's eight-year reign as coach. The victory gave the Patriots a 2-2 preseason record for the third straight year, although it did break a three-year losing streak in the finale - a game in which Belichick rarely puts any of his likely starters in harm's way. "We got a look at a lot of our young players tonight," Belichick said. "They got extended playing time and I really respected the way they played. I thought they competed well it wasn't perfect by any means, but it was certainly competitive." Evans, who had one catch for 8 yards, seven carries for 16 yards and a 1-yard touchdown run (his team-leading fourth touchdown of the preseason), hinted that the competitiveness of the game might have needed a few jolts of adrenaline from time to time, and he tried to provide them. "You try to get those guys excited and I was trying to get excited myself," he said. But that's what you can expect when the starting offensive lineup has Evans in the running-back role, Matt Cassel at quarterback, C.J. Jones and Kelvin Kight at wide receivers, Marcellus Rivers and Garrett Mills at tight ends, and an offensive line of Wesley Britt, Billy Yates, Mike Elgin, Gene Mruczkowski and Ryan O'Callaghan across the front. The starting defensive lineup saw Zach West, Le Kevin Smith and Santonio Thomas up front, Chad Brown, Eric Alexander, Oscar Lua (who injured his right leg and was replaced in the first series by Corey Mays) and Pierre Woods as linebackers, Brandon Meriweather and Willie Andrews the safeties and Tory James and Dante Wesley at the corners. It was junior varsity football at its very best, but it still managed to entertain a crowd that had a lot of empty seats in its midst because of the intensity of the players, many of whom knew they were getting their last chance to prove their worth before Saturday's mandated cutdown to 53 players. For instance, it wasn't that important that Eli Manning (5-8, 58 yards, 84.4 passer rating) and the rest of the Giants' starting offense marched to a score on their very first possession. It was important that it took Manning and his mates 16 plays and 8:13 to cover the 80 yards from the drive's beginning to its end - and that it took the Giants four plays from the New England 1 to punch the ball across the goal line. Brandon Jacobs finally made it across to goal line on his third try from a yard out, putting the Giants up 7-0 with 6:47 left in the opening quarter. Up to that point, however, he had been stuffed with impunity by the likes of Meriweather and Alexander on the first try, and Thomas and Mel Mitchell on the second. Still, the Giants managed to get some satisfaction out of it. "We went out there, had a long drive and got a touchdown," Manning said. "That was our goal coming in here. We wanted to come in and convert on third downs and get in the end zone. We were able to do that, so it was definitely successful." The Patriots' JVs got on the scoreboard for the first time with 41 seconds left in the quarter on a 37-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski, and took a 10-7 lead with 6:44 left in the half on a 1-yard run by Evans. Cassel had marched the team 87 yards on 13 plays, taking 6:10 off the clock, to Evans' run. And that was about it for the second-stringer, who gave way to Vinny Testaverde with 5:15 left in the half. "I thought that as a team, we played hard," Cassel said. "We went out there and just executed and did a good job tonight, so it was a good lead-in to the regular season." It was one of Cassel's more consistent performances this preseason, as he completed 10 of 14 passes for 99 yards (91.1 passer rating) without an interception. He was sacked once. And, barring some sort of disaster to befall Tom Brady in the weeks to come, that will be the last anyone sees of Cassel except possibly in mop-up time. "Even preseason is a great experience for me," he said. "I feel confident. I've been here for three years now, so I feel confident in the system and I feel confident in the guys around me. If, God forbid, something was to happen, I think I'd be ready to go." Testaverde showed he can still wing the ball with a little authority, engineering a six-play, 70-yard scoring drive early in the second half. The 43-year-old veteran completed passes of 23 and 8 yards to Jones, 15 to Rivers and 15 to Kight to set up Quinton Smith's 1-yard run with 11:15 left in the third quarter, putting the Patriots up 17-7. Testaverde did throw an interception, though, and that led to Josh Huston's 33-yard field goal with a minute left in the quarter, ending a 14-play, 49-yard drive and drawing the Giants to within a touchdown at 17-10. Testaverde exited after the pick by strong safety Craig Dahl, having completed seven of 11 passes for 99 yards and a 54.7 passer rating. Matt Gutierrez followed, but Rivers fumbled away a reception on the second play of that possession. That left it up to Norfolk native Tim Hasselbeck, who succeeded Jared Lorenzen (10-16, 53 yards, 68.0 passer rating). The former Xaverian High standout could only squeeze 15 yards out of the six-play drive and had to settle for a 43-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes with 12:06 left in the fourth quarter to draw the Giants within four points. Gostkowski got that back with 5:08 left, a 23-yard field goal restoring the Patriots' lead to 20-13. Gutierrez marched the team 73 yards in 13 plays, taking 6:58 off the clock, with the big play being a 25-yard reverse by Childress. Gutierrez (7-9, 48 yards, 125.9 passer rating) found Childress with a 12-yard touchdown pass with 2:54 left, capping a four-play, 23-yard possession that was made possible when Dante Wesley intercepted Hasselbeck on a pass intended for Sinorice Moss - the only player named Moss on the field Thursday night - with 4:19 left. The Giants' last gasp came by way of a 1-yard touchdown run by Ryan Grant with 49 seconds left to play. One positive from the second string defense was the fact that it sacked the beefy Lorenzen seven times. Le Kevin Smith had three, Woods two, Thomas on and Brown and Alexander shared the last. Alexander had a dazzling statistical night with a game-high 13 tackles, followed by Woods and Meriweather with nine apiece. "It was rough and it was a struggle," Lorenzen said. "There were a lot of things that went wrong, and we knew that." That left Belichick to consider the films this morning and to start the paring-down process. One decision that had been made prior to the game, the signing of veteran punter Chris Hanson and the release of rookie Danny Baugher, drew an "OK" grade from the coach. "I've seen a lot worse, put it that way," he said of Hanson, who had four punts for a 35.0 average (both net and gross). None were run back, two were downed inside the 20 and one went for 45 yards. As for Evans, one of the few players who will actually play in a significant role a week from Sunday at the Meadowlands, the game enabled him to polish up enough to feel ready to bring on the regular season. "There's a lot that's asked of me, and I need those reps in order to be able to perform whenever those things are asked," he said. "So whether it's running the ball or blocking or special teams or whatever it may be, I need those reps. Every week it's different. "Me, personally, I'm ready to play the Jets," he said. He isn't alone. MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com