FOXBORO — Two years ago, New England running back Heath Evans thought his NFL career had come to an end.

After boarding up his Florida house to prepare for Hurricane Wilma, Evans found out that the Dolphins had cut him.

“It was the first time I ever got cut from anything,” Evans said. “I told my wife it was over. Then I said, ‘Hey, I don’t care who calls.’ I love this game. I love playing it. I love playing it hard. When you get slapped in the face like that, especially as a starting fullback — you don’t expect as a starter to get cut or released, so it was a whirlwind of events.”

When Corey Dillon got injured, the Patriots called Evans and decided to give him a shot. They signed him on Nov. 1, 2005, and he has been with the Patriots ever since.

Evans is a 6-foot, 250-pound blocking fullback, but he has shown in recent weeks that he can carry the ball, too. He carried it a season-high 10 times against Buffalo for a season-high 56 yards.

Last week he scored a touchdown on his only carry of the game.

While Evans enjoys carrying the ball every once in a while, he doesn’t expect that to be his full-time job. Laurence Maroney and Kevin Faulk are proven tailbacks and Evans’ major role in the NFL has been opening up holes for the running backs and protecting the quarterback on pass plays.

“A running back, I would never want to be one. But now that I’m here, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Evans said.

When asked whether he was comfortable running the ball, Evans said, “Of course.”

“Really, I’m comfortable with anything this offense asks of me,” Evans said. “I’ve been here long enough now to know basically every little thing about this offense. [Tom Brady] kind of exudes confidence for everyone in that huddle so you kind of just get in and go to work, and he makes things simple.”

Faulk practiced only once this week and Maroney (foot) did not play last week in the first half, so Evans said that if he is asked to play more, he’ll welcome the challenge.

“I’m thankful to [Bill] Belichick and to [vice president of player personnel Scott] Pioli for seeing [in me] a little bit of what they wanted here, and to give me the time to adjust to the system and make a spot for myself. I’m proud to call myself a New England Patriot. I like how things are done here. I love being here.”

Billick blames turnovers

Baltimore coach Brian Billick thinks that one of the keys to Monday night’s game will be getting off to a fast start.

The Patriots have outscored their opponents by 107-24 in the first quarter, while Baltimore has been outscored by 43-13.

Billick also said the main reason why the Ravens are struggling so much early in games is because of turnovers.

“We can’t turn the ball over,” Billick said. “I mean, the Patriots certainly don’t need a short field to continue to do what they’re doing, and that’s been our nemesis. When we don’t turn the ball over, we’ve done some pretty good things. But when we turn we ball over and put our defense on the short field, or take ourselves away from a scoring opportunity after a drive, it’s hard to win as is evidenced by our record.”

The Patriots are plus-13 in the turnover category and have turned the ball over a league-low nine times, while the Ravens are minus-11 and have turned the ball over 28 times.

“When you handle the ball, you carry the entire fortunes of the team with you,” Belichick said. “No matter who it is — center, punter, quarterback, running back, defensive player on a turnover, returner — whoever it is, there’s nothing more important than possession of the ball.

"So it’s a tremendous amount of responsibility, and anybody that has it needs to understand what the importance of it [is], and the importance of doing all that they can to secure it.”

Pats’ two-pronged attack

Billick says the Patriots are so dangerous on offense because they have the ability to both run the ball and pass it, which keeps defensive coordinators guessing.

“I think they have the ability to be as balanced as they want to be,” Billick said. “They’re going in and doing whatever they think they have to do to move the ball. I’ve never been one to believe, and it doesn’t look like they are, that you’ve got to run to set up the pass or pass to set up the run. If you can throw the ball, throw it. If you run it, you run it. And they have the capacity to do both. I don’t know that their running game has fallen off. If it has, it’s by design because they thought they could do and get done what they needed to get done the other way. They’re capable, if that fits the game plan, to come out and run the ball 50 times, too, if they want to.”

Injury list

Baltimore quarterback Steve McNair (left shoulder) and wide receiver Demtrius Williams (ankle) are listed as “out” and tight end Todd Heap (thigh), cornerback Chris McAlister (knee) and safety Gerome Sapp (thigh) are listed as “doubtful” for Monday’s game.

The Patriots don’t have anybody listed as doubtful on their injury report.

roblee@projo.com