Columnist Sal Sal DeFilippo: Raiders on roll after finding success on ‘pass line’

Friday, Sept. 20, 2002 | 4:18 a.m.

Sal DeFilippo's pro football picks column appears Friday. Reach him at sal@lasvegassun.com or 259-4076.

It didn't take long to figure out the Oakland Raiders' offensive strategy against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week.

Pass on first down. Pass on second down. Pass on third down. Pass in running situations. Pass during the commercial break. In fact, owner Al Davis should change the longtime rally cry for the silver and black: Just throw, baby.

Running plays are boring, anyway. Oakland saw tapes of the Steelers' opening-week loss against New England, in which the Patriots used a steady diet of pass plays to humble Pittsburgh. In one stretch, New England threw 25 consecutive passes between running plays.

The Raiders took that approach to the next level. Check out these numbers:

Their first 10 offensive plays were Rich Gannon passes. Then, after a sneaky run, Gannon threw another eight times. And following yet another annoying handoff, Oakland threw on 19 consecutive plays.

Thirty-seven passes, two runs. They had additional stretches of nine, six and five passes between runs, and midway through the fourth quarter, they had thrown 65 times. The Raiders ran the ball on their final eight plays, either because they were trying to run out the clock, or because Gannon was on a pitch count.

No matter. It got the job done. The Raiders' newfound lovefest with the forward pass may also have helped with the officiating, at least in one case. Pittsburgh's Joey Porter ran nearly the length of the field after intercepting one of Gannon's tosses, before handing the ball to teammate Chad Scott. Scott took the ball into the end zone for an apparent touchdown, but the Raiders challenged the call, claiming that Porter's lateral was actually a forward pass. Certainly the Raiders could now be considered experts in this area, and the call went their way.

Both teams are off this week, and the rest certainly will do Pittsburgh, which is 0-2, some good. Until they can show an ability to stop teams from passing at will, the Steelers hopes of making the postseason are, at best, still up in the air.