Not this year. The pass-happy Raiders opened the playoffs with intentions of pounding the football. Bright Raiders coach Bill Callahan used the extra time during the bye week installing power packages. He'd bring offensive linemen Matt Stinchcomb and Langston Walker onto the field as tight ends and establish packages called Jumbo and Elephant. In the 2002 NFL, they looked like dinosaurs.

"I think in playoff football you have to run the football," Callahan said. "I think historically it shows that. Your rushing attention and your rush average is extremely important."

	Donovan McNabb threw for 247 yards and had a touchdown pass last weekend.

So the Raiders tried to run Sunday against the Jets. During a three-possession stretch from the middle of the first quarter to the second, Callahan called more running plays than passing plays. Players grumbled. The offense stalled. By the end of the first half, the score was tied at 10-10, the Jets were winning the time of possession 18:12 to 11:48 and the Raiders were set to change back into their passing ways.

"In the second quarter, we ran the ball two consecutive times and it was like, 'Oh, my God, we blew a gasket,' " Callahan said.

Passing is king as the NFL heads into the championship round, and defensive coaches have to make the biggest adjustments. It's interesting to note that the surviving four teams were among the best defenses heading into the playoffs. The Tampa Bay Bucs and Philadelphia Eagles ranked first and fourth, respectively. The Titans and Raiders were 10th and 11th.

But ultimately, the Super Bowl ring might go to the team that can better stop the pass than the run, a strange opposite of the past. To the Eagles and Bucs, that may not be a problem. The Bucs have some of the best pass defense numbers in the past 20 years, a 48.4 opposing quarterback rating and 31 interceptions. The Eagles have a secondary of three Pro Bowlers -- cornerbacks Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent and safety Brian Dawkins along with a 2002 draft of fresh new defensive backs.

The Raiders and Titans have emphasized upgrading their secondaries, but injuries have nagged both teams all seasons. The Raiders, in fact, survived the victory over the Jets thanks to the great play of two cornerbacks coming off broken legs -- Charles Woodson and Tory James. How they hold up for the next two games will determine whether the Raiders will fulfill their goal of winning the Super Bowl.

Woodson and James had to jump into more man-to-man situations in the second half of the Jets game and the strategy worked. Twice, Woodson knocked down almost sure completions. At halftime, the Raiders coaching staff completely redid their pass coverages against plays in which Jets had empty backfields. More man was called, and the players responded.

"They were catching us off guard, and we used more man," safety Anthony Dorsett Jr. said. "Man is a lot easier to do. Secondaries have so many different things to do that sometimes you don't have time to rep them all. Making them simpler allows you get more reps and get good with it."

No defense has figured the formula of stopping all the offenses in this pass crazy NFL. The Bucs and Eagles may have the best chances, but they, too, can't be complacent. Offensive coaches have opened their playbooks up so much that their weapons are varied and expansive.

Look at what the Raiders did to teams this year. Defenses knew how tough it was to run against teams such as the Steelers and Broncos. No trouble. Rich Gannon took the run out of the game and worked his short-passing magic to blow out both teams. Against the Steelers, he caught them off guard with the no huddle.

	“	In the first half (against the Jets), we used run, run, pass as opposed to what we used the rest of the season. In the second half, we came out pass, pass, run. We used the pass to set up the run and it worked a lot better for us. ”
		— Raiders WR Jerry Porter

Any more, offenses switch to no huddle sets just to change the tempo and prevent defensive coordinators from rotating defenders or slipping in extra defensive backs. Defenders wear down. Drives turn into touchdowns.

"It's unbelievable what's happened this season," Bengals offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said. "Pittsburgh has a hell of a defense, but their season came down to their secondary. They are above average at cornerback. Their guys are pretty good. Yet, look at the trouble they had."

The Steelers have $4 million a year cornerbacks Chad Scott and Dewayne Washington and surrendered 34 points to the Titans last Saturday. Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt might be the best equipped to stuff passing offenses. Patrick Surtain and Sam Madison might be the best man-to-man, bump-and-run specialists in the game.

Against the Raiders, they locked up against the first two receiving reads for Gannon. Defensive end Jason Taylor applied pressure and made Gannon force uncomfortable throws. The Dolphins won, but the didn't make the playoffs. Sustaining any kind of consistent pass defenses in his pass happy environment isn't easy.

"The rules are geared toward offense," 49ers defensive coordinator Jim Mora Jr. said. "You can hold along the offensive line. That makes it tough to rush the quarterback. Officials are quick to call the holding or pass interference downfield. They are calling things tighter."

But Mora isn't crying foul about the officiating and citing it as the reason for the great offensive year.

"It comes down that you have bigger, faster, better athletes on offense," Mora said. "You have 6-foot-2, 200-pound receivers. You have better running backs. Teams have more good receivers than defenses have cornerbacks, so naturally the game is going to be in favor of the wide receivers."

Scoring went from 40.4 to 43.4 points a game this season. Teams are averaging 11.25 yards a game more than a year ago. The average pass attempt stayed at 5.9 yards a game, and the average completion dropped from 11.5 to 11.3 yards, lowest in almost three decades.

Quarterbacks just kept throwing. This was the first 10,000 completion year in the history of the league. Quarterbacks completed 10,314 of 17,292 passes for 108,658 yards. That's a 59.6 percent completion percentage. The average quarterback threw for 212.2 yards a game.

In the playoffs the numbers go up because the quarterbacks are all good -- Gannon, Steve McNair, Brad Johnson and Donovan McNabb. When it comes to running in the playoffs, the NFL is taking a pass.

"In the first half (against the Jets), we used run, run, pass as opposed to what we used the rest of the season," Raiders receiver Jerry Porter said. "In the second half, we came out pass, pass, run. We used the pass to set up the run and it worked a lot better for us."

Yeah, no one was blowing a gasket.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.