You're partially correct. I think what really did it was the fact that W. Johnson went out and spent $160 Million on new players. Key pieces to help this team atleast make the Playoffs. Here's the thing though, they didn't. Let's say you give $20K to your financial advisor to invest in lucritive venues, to help you make the most money. Five months later, you've got $9K in assetts. What do you do with the guy that just lost your $11K? You kick his ass to the curb!
Agreed, the plan to throw more often and run less was about as stupid as it gets. We got TJ and were running shotgun on 3rd and 1 and 4th and 1. 4th and 1 i can almost slight wrap my head around, but 3rd and 1. Just horrible decision making. I really believe that they thought by passing on 3rd and 1 the defense would be confused and we would pick up tons of yardage. The only problem is: 1. We did it on almost every 3rd and 1. I think they picked up on it about 11 games into the season. 2. We did it from shotgun. So the chances of confusing the defense are slim at best.
A point that I think gets overlooked is the fact that I think Mangini started to get manipulated by the press. We all remember when they ran it three times from the one against the Pats and didn't get in. After that game, Mangini got called out by the press for not throwing the ball with the big star QB that they acquired, and ever since that game, it seemed like they started throwing the ball more in order to compensate instead of playing to their strengths, which obviously became running the ball. That and the fact that seemingly every single player (except for TJ) got misused on offense.
