Outside efficiency experts would look at the first two weeks of the NFL season and come up with one suggestion -- eliminate those silly things called the huddle. The Raiders didn't need one to win a big game on the road against the Steelers.

During the first two weeks, the no-huddle worked in more places than just Oakland. Tom Brady dusted it off against the Steelers with great success in the opener, and the Steelers, who are on their bye week, know they need to work on no-huddles and short-passing attacks to get future opponents out of their pass happy motives.

	Rich Gannon and the Raiders used the no-huddle to pass for 403 yards in Week 2.

But don't think the no-huddle is a long-term answer to the age-old problem of improved passing. It's a phase. The good news is that the no-huddle has become a nice spur-of-the-moment cure to help slumping offenses. Don't be surprised if the Rams try a few no-huddle possessions to get their offense going against the Bucs Monday night. But the no-huddle is just an appetizer, not a meal.

In recent years, the only team that came the closest to being a fulltime no-huddle team was the Colts. Peyton Manning is a rare quarterbacking talent that has the mind and savvy to manage games that way. The no-huddle doesn't have to be a hurry-up offense and Manning works well by letting the clock run down enough to let his own defense get some rest.

So why not everybody? Simple. The no-huddle isn't for everyone and sometimes the solution creates new problems. Defenses need to rest, and if the no-huddle offense doesn't produce first downs, the defense returns to the field without a chance to regroup. No-huddle may wear down opposing defenses but the mission isn't to wear down your own defense.

"I don't think the no-huddle is for every team," Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer said. "You need huddles. It's hard for a quarterback to make every call at the line of scrimmage. And you don't want to have your defense jumping back on the field too quickly."

Huddles have a purpose. Teams use so many receiver-tight end packages any more that they wouldn't be consistently able to shuttle in the different units without the huddle. Receivers who run deep wouldn't get enough of a breather after long routes without a huddle. And, perhaps more than everything else, you can't count on most offenses being good enough to get first downs in three downs.

"It's a phase," Saints coach Jim Haslett said. "The no-huddle really backfires after three-and-outs and the defense comes back on the field. I don't think it's a trend."

Go back to the Buffalo Bills days when Jim Kelly ran the K-Gun. Coach Marv Levy went back and forth with Kelly about whether or not to make it the every-down offense, and often decided to use it less than Kelly wanted. Of course, Kelly wanted to use the K-Gun 60 minutes a game, so one play in the huddle was useless to him. He loved the action.

Since then, more complex plays have been incorporated into the no-huddle formats, which can make them more effective. Defenses have changed since Kelly's days with the Bills. Defensive coordinators now don't try to trick quarterbacks with their personnel. They try to trick them with alignments and use. Nowadays, defensive coordinators send in players to match the number of receivers who are on the field.

The first two weeks of the 2002 season have given reason for offensive coordinators to gloat, but to their credit, they haven't. Scoring is up. Passing yardage is up. And the numbers, on the surface, are staggering. The 45.1 points a game being scored in the first two weeks is the most since the 48.1 scored in the first two weeks of the 1989 season.

The 67.8 passing attempts a game are the most ever in the opening of a season. The 461.9 gross passing yards a game during the first two weeks are the most since 1994 when 496.5 was the two week standard.

Trust me, those numbers are going to come down and come down substantially. They always do. In 1994, for example, the passing yardage for two teams in a game fell to 427.2 per game, which turned out to be 14 yards less than the 1995 season.

Scoring will come down, too, unfortunately. That wild 1989 season that started at 48.1 points a game finished at 41.2, roughly where this league has been for most of the 1990s. The key for this season is making sure that scoring doesn't drop below 40 points in a game because it might prompt the Competition Committee to initiate thoughts to open up more offensive scoring.

Points-per-game have been dropping for the past four seasons from 42.6 in 1998 to 41.6 to 41.3 to 40.4. This year's scoring explosion is welcome. It's wonderful. I wish it would continue. But one number behind all of the numbers scares me.

Completions are actually shorter than ever. The average completion in the first two weeks of the season is -- get this -- 11.15 yards. Since 1978, the lowest completion average for any season was 11.5, and that was last season. The length of a completion has been shortening since 1998, to lose nearly half a yard may eventually catch up to offense.

The shorter completions shouldn't be a surprise. More teams are spreading the field with an extra receiver or two and working the short passing game. That's the strategy the Patriots parlayed into a Super Bowl Trophy, and Tom Brady is taking it another step. His 25 consecutive tosses in the opener to the Steelers were mostly short throws into zones.

I remember calling around before the start of the season and asking defensive coaches if they studied enough Patriots offensive tape to find ways of getting teams out of that style of offense. While some coaches took peaks, they didn't settle into a pattern to stop the Patriots type of scheme. Once again, the Patriots weren't getting the respect that they deserve.

Now, defensive coordinators will be hitting the tapes and trying to get these short-passing spreads out of their rhythm. They have no choice. More teams are throwing shorter and throwing it more often. They will keep doing it until someone comes up with answers to those schemes.

The defensive coach that stops the Patriots passing attack might end up being the most popular in football. His tape will be in heavy demand.

"I'm seeing more teams flooding areas of a defense with quick, short routes," Schottenheimer said. "It's going to require more defenses to match up with them in zone."

Offenses opened the season with an edge, whether it's the no-huddle or the short passing attack. For the good of the league and ratings and fun, you hope that it continues. But there are so many good defensive coaches and quick athletes on defense, it might be hard to sustain.

After being victimized for one of the best offensive starts in NFL history, the defensive players and coaches are going to huddle up and find solutions.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.