Romanowski

Except for one series, Pennington was human. He completed 21 of 47 passes for 183 yards. He threw two interceptions. He was sacked four times, hit eight times, knocked down eight times and had one pass batted down. In the game's critical third quarter and a few plays into the fourth, Pennington went 1-for-8 for 20 yards. His worst performance as a starter allowed the Raiders to turn a 10-10 game at the half into a safe 24-10 lead by early in the fourth quarter. "There is an old saying, 'As a quarterback goes, so goes the offense and so goes the team,'" Pennington said. "I didn't go today. I didn't give us a chance." Give the Raiders defense some credit. Cornerbacks Charles Woodson and Tory James might have played with plates in their legs to protect broken bones, but their ability to shift into man coverage at critical times fractured the Jets offense. The Jets made a game of it in the first half by making a few second-quarter adjustments. In that quarter, Pennington executed a 16-play, 81-yard drive that consumed 7:46 and tied the score at 10. It caused a meeting of the minds at the half by the Raiders' defensive coaches and the secondary. "They were giving us a lot of empty formations and caught us off guard," safety Anthony Dorsett said. "We re-did our whole empty package and incorporated more man-to-man. We got our hands on the receivers and the defensive line was getting pressure on the quarterback."

	“	We started to run the ball in the first half with the lead, but in the second half we got back to doing a little more what the players wanted. What we do best is throw the ball. ”
		— Raiders WR Jerry Rice

Suddenly, Pennington threw horribly in the second half. His passes were high. His receivers were covered. While the Raiders secondary gained confidence, the Gannon-led offense made another transformation. After trying to be more of a running team in the first half, the Raiders went back to their strength. Gannon kept everything in the air, and the Raiders were unstoppable. "That's something we've done all year long -- throw the ball downfield and attack," wide receiver Jerry Rice said. "Throwing the ball opens up the run, but we wanted to come out early and pound the ball." In retrospect, the Raiders' strategy was one in which the Raiders coaches had too much time to think during the bye week. Coach Bill Callahan called 14 runs compared to 11 passes in the first half and found his team on the short side of possession time -- 11:48 to 18:12. The strategy was junked. Callahan was so insistent on running the ball that they had plays designed in which seven offensive linemen were on the field at certain times. Matt Stinchcomb and Langston Walker reported in as tight ends. They had plays called Jumbo and Elephant. What they weren't, though, were plays that fit the personality of this team. The Raiders live and die by Gannon's passes. On the opening possession of the second half, Gannon went to the air. He completed six of eight passes for 52 yards but Sebastian Janikowski missed a 29-yard field goal. On the next possession, Gannon kept throwing. He hit four of four. Finally, Gannon executed a pump fake against a Jets "Cover 2" zone that froze free safety Damien Robinson in the middle of the field. Jerry Porter ran a post route for a 29-yard touchdown to open a 17-10 lead. "At halftime, we felt when we came into the locker room that we wanted to change the tempo of the game," said Gannon, who completed 20 of 30 for 283 yards and two touchdowns. "We felt we were a little stale running the ball. We wanted to be a little more aggressive." So aggressive were the Raiders that they even reached back into their Vertical Stretch past. Early in the fourth quarter, Porter ran a seam route against what was a Cover Three Zone. Gannon executed another perfect fake pass that froze Robinson. Porter gained 50 yards on the play and set up a 9-yard touchdown pass to Rice. "We started to run the ball in the first half with the lead, but in the second half we got back to doing a little more what the players wanted," Rice said. "What we do best is throw the ball." Still, the Raiders left the field feeling angry about the Jets. For one, guard Frank Middleton wanted to fight with Jets defensive tackle Josh Evans, who called Middleton the dirtiest player in football. "Late in the game, I was down on the ground and Josh said, 'I hope you don't get up,' " Middleton said. "Then I heard somebody else way, 'If we aren't going to play next week, you aren't going to play next week.' That sucks. I do this for a living. If you want to be personal, come see me. You want to take food off my family's table. At one point, somebody ripped my helmet off while another guy put a knee in the back of my neck. The Jets cowarded out." That may or may not have been the case, but one thing was certain. The Jets were eliminated by a TKO in the second half. The next bout is against the Titans. We'll see if there is as much bitterness. John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.