The St. Louis Rams (5-7) flexed their muscles on Sunday with a 52-0 hammering of the Oakland Raiders (1-11) at the Edward Jones Dome. Our takeaways:
- The Rams looked like a white-hot juggernaut from the opening whistle. Getting plenty of help from his supporting cast, journeyman signal-caller Shaun Hill finished 13-of-22 passing for 183 yards with two touchdowns and another score on the ground. It was the game of the year for St. Louis coordinator Brian Shottenheimer, who deserves credit for keeping his foot on the gas from wire-to-wire.
- Oakland couldn't build off last week's upset victory over the Chiefs, held to five or fewer plays on 11 drives while producing just 3.3 yards per snap against one of the NFL's more fascinating defensive squads.
- St. Louis saw a handful of young players shine against Oakland's lost-at-sea defense. Wideout Stedman Bailey went off for 100 yards on five grabs; rookie runner Tre Mason amassed 117 yards on the ground and another 47 through the air; and Tavon Austin scorched the Raiders with an 18-yard jet sweep to paydirt that put the Rams up 21-0 before the first quarter was done.
- The Rams have scored big with rookie corner E.J. Gaines. He made a handful of big breakups Sunday and showed once again why he made our list of this year's late-round gems.
- The Raiders have to rethink their backfield this offseason. We like promising young runner Latavius Murray, but Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew are a dead-on-arrival duo who give the Raiders no chance at sustaining drives.
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