The reason the Peyton Mannings got it handed to them is because they built their team around 1 great player who is also the offensive coordinator. The percentage of payroll dedicated to said QB had an impact on the quality of the other players on the team. That's OK when you play in a weak division and conference but not so much against teams that are more focused on the team as a unit and play in a much tougher conference. The Peyton Mannings got away with a great offensive coordinator on the field out witting defenses. The issue for the Peyton Mannings is that they ran in to the buzz saw of the NFC wests best defense. Niners D would have taken them apart also. The game being played in the NFC west is man on man, little scheming, you know what's coming and we know what's coming, now stop it or beat it. The Hawks and niners just line up and play. Cards and Rams aren't far behind. Scheming is what you do when you cant man up man for man. The Donks didn't have the players to out muscle the Hawks, not the speed, tackling ability and just plain grit that our Hawks displayed. Look at that piss poor attempt at tackling in the 3rd and fourth quarter. Reminded me a lot of the Hawks in the ugly years after SB40.
Manning didn't lose the game on his own, but him being there played a large part in the loss. We Hawk fans need to remember that you cant push all your chips on to the QB position.....It doesn't work.
