I think the philosophy of worrying about the pass first and foremost is good on paper, and would probably work great if robots were on the field, but in human football there is something wrong on a primal level with getting run on. The fans here were upset over our win over the Jags because they had a bunch of rushing yards, they were pouty despite the fact that we crushed them.
Then against the Jets we didn't crush them but held on for a tight win. Once again the fans were outraged over the rushing yards given up. You have to believe that, even though its completely illogical, that some or most of the players felt the same way.
So when Manning did his regular dog and pony show, while checking in and out of the perfect plays and completely shredded our defense at both running effectively and throwing TD passes in the endzone it was the straw that broke the camels back. The defense was demoralized and they were no longer buying the theory that if we limit the passing stats we will win, which was a tough sell at the best of times. Maybe even an impossible sell.
Plus, it didn't help that we were playing guys off the street (don't even remember the name of the CB playing for us that game) and that Jamar Taylor is an idiot.
