OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Mike Shanahan jinx ended Monday night because Jon Gruden has transformed the Raiders. These aren't the Raiders of yesteryear.

Remember the old Al Davis edict: "Don't take what they give you, take what you want." Gruden changed all that. Gone is the Vertical Stretch. No more Mad Bomber Daryle Lamonica. For a quarterback, the Raiders have replaced the cannon with a Gannon. Efficiency has replaced tenacity.

"Don't get me wrong, we are not looking to throw the long ball," right tackle Lincoln Kennedy said. "We are looking to chip away, wearing down the opposition. There is nothing fancy about it."

	Rich Gannon is the triggerman behind the Raiders' short-passing attack.

The reason the strategy ended the Broncos' seven-game winning streak against the Raiders so easily Monday night in a 38-28 victory is that Gruden is still refining his changes.

"Commitment to Chipping" probably doesn't have the same ring as "Commitment to Excellence" because it's still a work in progress. A year ago, the Raiders were a running team. This year, Gruden is developing a short-passing team.

On the field, the Raiders are killing teams softly but consistently. They are 6-1, atop the AFC West and atop the AFC as the clear Super Bowl favorite. They may not have the sparkle and thrill of the Mike Martz Rams, but the results are the same.

Study the numbers. During their first seven possessions, the Raiders had six drives that lasted between seven to 11 plays. Those series gained no fewer than 52 yards up to a maximum of 75 yards. Those drives produced four touchdowns and one field goal. By halftime, the Raiders led 21-6. By the fourth quarter, they were leading 31-20.

The most amazing part of those drives was that only five plays went longer than 12 yards. Chip. Chip. Chip. "They didn't do much long, but it's frustrating because they keep going," Broncos linebacker Bill Romanowski said.

Unlike last season, when the Raiders were Ground Gruden, they've become more of a clock-control passing team. Rich Gannon was 20-of-25 in the first half for 183 yards. They ran the ball only 11 times. Gannon took the opening kickoff and chipped the Broncos into submission. He threw eight passes in a 10-play, 70-yard opening touchdown drive. Six of the eight passes went to Tim Brown. He caught four for 44 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown on a play covered by $26 million Broncos cornerback Denard Walker.

	Gannon Arm
	Rich Gannon has been one of the most productive quarterbacks in the NFL since joining the Raiders in 1999. His 61 touchdown passes since the start of the '99 season rank third in the NFL, trailing only Kurt Warner and Peyton Manning. Gannon had only 23 TDs in the three combined seasons before joining the Raiders and had just 66 in 10 career seasons prior to 1999. Here's a look at the TD pass leaders since the start of '99.
		TDs
	Kurt Warner	75
	Peyton Manning	72
	Rich Gannon	61
	Brett Favre	57
	Elvic Grbac	56

"When Rich gets confidence in you early, he keeps coming to you," Brown said.

For a month, Gannon and Brown practiced a few extra passing routes in which Brown worked quick outs or short curls or anything that gets him downfield 8 to 10 yards for a reception. Twelve of Gannon's first 25 passes went in Brown's direction. He caught eight in the first half for 76 yards.

Gannon put the game away in the third quarter when he had the Broncos lured into following split end Jerry Rice on an out route. All that did is confuse a safety and left Brown single-covered by Deltha O'Neal on a post route that he turned into a 19-yard touchdown to blow the game open at 28-12.

"I can't say it's a surprise," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said of the Raiders' short-passing philosophy. "They will change things up on you. They executed so well. They passed the ball. Obviously, the direction they went was a good one. They controlled the tempo of the game."

During the offseason, Gruden felt the Raiders hadn't developed enough of a passing game last season even though Gannon had an MVP-type season. They rushed for 520 of their 1,023 plays last season. Whether it was Tyrone Wheatley, retired Napoleon Kaufman, Terry Kirby, Zack Crockett or Gannon himself, the Raiders rushed for 154.4 yards a game. But against the Ravens in the AFC championship game, the Raiders' strategy ran themselves into a corner.

"It was the way the season ended last year," Kennedy said. "Last year, we tried to force the power running game, but we didn't have a passing attack developed for the AFC championship game. We really limited ourselves once we became like that."

No one runs on the Ravens. Against a blitz-crazy Eagles team last week, the Raiders ran and posted 202 yards on the ground in a 20-10 victory. This year's Raiders team is more balanced, so Gannon hits the short-passing game early and then switches to the run when they have the lead.

That's why Charlie Garner, who is a better early-down receiver than runner, is more valuable to the team than Wheatley, who is out with a knee injury but doesn't appear to be missed.

	“	They executed so well. They passed the ball. Obviously, the direction they went was a good one. They controlled the tempo of the game. ”
		— Mike Shanahan, Broncos coach

"We have Pro Bowl players like Charlie Garner, Tim Brown and Jerry Rice and Rich Gannon," Gruden said. "Rich made the Pro Bowl because of his throwing ability and his decision-making, not just handing the ball off."

Were it not for a Garner fumble after a nine-play, 54-yard drive, Gannon might have been 4-for-4 in touchdown drives before the end of the first half.

"Rich is a warrior, man," Rice said. "He's such a competitor. You know he's going to fight."

With seven minutes left in the second quarter, Gannon ran around right end to the sideline for a 6-yard gain to the Broncos' 1. Safety Kenoy Kennedy legally banged his helmet into the back of Gannon's as the quarterback headed out of bounds. The reason that there won't be a fine on Kennedy is because Gannon is a runner on that play, so he has the ability to protect himself. For several seconds, Gannon was sprawled along the sideline paint appearing to be suffering a concussion. Rice ran over and said, "Get up." Gannon had to be helped up, the right side of his helmet covered with grass.

Gruden came over and asked Gannon to remember some of the team's offensive packages and audible calls. Gannon snapped back answers with anger. In fact, Gannon bristled at reporters asking him if he suffered a concussion. "I don't know where that came from," Gannon said.

So in the second half, despite a 21-6 lead, Gannon played angry. Twice on third downs, Gannon scrambled for first downs on his feet. He was not going to let the Broncos get to him. "Rich has been in a zone all year," Brown said.

Once, he audibled to a formation in which nine offensive players stayed near the line of scrimmage to thwart a Broncos blitz and then he fired a completion over the middle to Jerry Porter for a first down.

Afterward, Broncos halfback Terrell Davis said that this was the best Raiders team he had seen since coming into the league. Gruden broke his personal six-game losing streak to Shanahan, and the Raiders, who had lost 11 of 12 prior to Monday night's game, dominated.

These aren't the Raiders who let the Broncos have their number. "Commitment to Chipping" may not have the right ring to it, but it could be the philosophy that gets Super Bowl rings back on the fingers of Raiders players.

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