ST. LOUIS -- Face a team with as explosive and diverse a passing game as the St. Louis Rams possess, and you characteristically face this ultimate defensive conundrum: Do you blitz aggressively upfront or do you drop off and cover?

Given the brilliance of Rams quarterback Kurt Warner on Sunday afternoon, it might not have mattered which poison Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Jim Bates chose in a futile attempt to slow the Rams' powerful offense. But in deciding to drop off, opening the game in a "nickel" deployment that set a somewhat passive tone for the Dolphins' quick defense, the Miami game plan provided Warner plenty of time to find his receivers.

And find them he did in a 42-10 rout. Again and again and again.

"We knew they were explosive and have all those great playmakers, but we still felt we could hang with them," said Miami cornerback Sam Madison. "But when they get it all going at the same time, every element of their game clicking, they are something else. And the quarterback, well, he's just uncanny with his accuracy."

The league's '99 most valuable player, Warner misfired on only seven of his 31 attempts, throwing for 328 yards and four touchdowns. His efficiency rating for the afternoon was a stratospheric 150.8. When it came to sheer accuracy, he arguably completed at least six passes most other quarterbacks might not even have thrown. Twice the threw for gains of 25-plus yards on plays where his receivers hadn't even turned for the ball yet when it left his hand. And there were a few occasions, Warner allowed, when he was just plain lucky.

But the fact he rang up such gaudy numbers against one of the few secondary units with enough talent and depth to challenge the Rams cadre of receivers only made his feats that much more remarkable. And against a Miami defense that goes into every game feeling it can create pressure with its front four alone, Warner enjoyed a day when he could sit in the pocket and scan the field unchallenged.

	“	Let's face it, we have so many playmakers, this is an offense that makes you just shake your head. Maybe there's some team out there that can shut all of us down, but we don't think there is such a defense. We have too many weapons. ”
		— Torry Holt

By unofficial count, the Dolphins blitzed just once in the first half, and it resulted in their only sack. Patrick Surtain exploded in from the left edge on a "corner fire" blitz, dumping Warner for a 10-yard loss on the final play of the opening quarter, slowing the Rams on a series in which they were subsequently forced to punt.

Lest one suggest, though, that brief success should have elicited more blitzes from Bates, this bit of reality: On the first defensive series of the second half, Bates called four blitzes and St. Louis rolled to 42 yards on those plays. That included a 25-yard burst off the right side by tailback Marshall Faulk, who ran right through the void created by blitzing weak linebacker Derrick Rodgers.

"Let's face it, we have so many playmakers, this is an offense that makes you just shake your head," said Rams wide receiver Torry Holt, who finished with four catches for 111 yards and a 45-yard touchdown grab. "Maybe there's some team out there that can shut all of us down, but we don't think there is such a defense. We have too many weapons."

That was evident again Sunday, as seven different St. Louis receivers had at least two catches each, and six had three or more receptions. The ubiquitous Faulk rushed for 88 yards, scored once on the ground and twice through the air. The offensive line allowed just one sack, on the Surtain blitz.

Remarkable is how the Rams can come at a team in waves. Veteran pass-catcher Ricky Proehl, for instance, is the No. 4 wideout on the St. Louis roster. On a few NFL teams, he would be a starter, on most no worse than the third wide receiver. On Sunday, he quietly had three catches for 50 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown on the opening possession of the game. The St. Louis tight ends, regarded as little more than afterthoughts in such a vertical passing game, combined for five catches and 41 yards.

In the St. Louis locker room, most veteran players were hard-pressed to recall a game in which the offense was so close to perfection. Coach Mike Martz, who refers to a flawless game as "Max Q," said his charges approximated that expectation.

"It's a term, 'Max Q,' that we use," Martz said. "It is about achieving a certain level of performance. It's really based on us, not on the opponent, of us reaching the highest level of competence and execution. We talk to our guys about it all time, and I think we came pretty close to it today."

What made the performance so eye-opening is that the Miami "nickel" and "dime" looks had performed so admirably in last Sunday's comeback victory over the Oakland Raiders. In his decision to not pressure upfront, Bates counted on his normally superior secondary to cover from sideline to sideline. But the Rams are so adept at their crisp crossing routes, on which they usually "rub off" a defender with a legal pick or simply create sufficient chaos to force huge coverage voids, that it's impossible to check them forever.

By unofficial count, St. Louis ran 35 of its 59 offensive snaps with three, four or even five wide receivers on the field. On those plays, the Rams averaged almost 10 yards a snap. Overall they averaged 7.5 yards a snap in ringing up 441 yards and 27 first downs.

"I don't want to tell anyone how to play us," said offensive tackle Orlando Pace. "But if you sit back and try to cover us, Kurt is going to pick you apart. And it doesn't matter if you put a dozen defensive backs on the field. Those receivers will find some holes."

As noted in the ESPN.com "tip sheet" last week, Dolphins "nickel" cornerback Terry Cousin had been enjoying a superb season. On Sunday, however, he was the target of choice for Warner early and often.

It wasn't even as if Cousin was beaten badly on plays, but that he too often failed to make a play on the ball. On at least three of the completions against him, he was in position on the receiver, but didn't finish the play. "It isn't enough just to be close," Cousin said.

Not to worry, though, since the entire Miami defense was so helpless. It isn't easy to render such a terrific unit, arguably the quickest defense in the league, so ineffective. But such is potency of a St. Louis offense whose assemblage of outside personnel might be able to qualify as an Olympics relay entry.

"I know it's a game of inches," said Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor. "

But today it seemed like we were always a yard behind."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.