The first Sask game is a good example too, everyone freaked out about the rushing yards but it was the turnovers that lost them the game. The Turnovers led directly to many times the points all those rushing yards did.
There is a lot more to consider about rushing yards allowed than the overall stat.
We have been hurt by being the worst against the run
more time on the field for the defence and less time on the field for the offence, which leads to less points scored.
More time for the defence translates to a defence which is more tired later in games and cost us at least a couple of games
bad tackling and schemes on defence cost us touchdowns against.
many times inability to stop the run put us behind, and hurt our own ability to call run plays.
It's not so simple to say the run didn't hurt us.
matter of fact what I read in the paper today was particulary troubling
quote from MOS
"We still gave up a bunch of rushing yards but we managed to win," said O’Shea. "And that maybe lends a bit more credence to the idea that rushing yards aren’t all they’re cracked up to be."
Of course, it also doesn’t hurt if, while your opponent is rushing for 214 yards, they also turn the ball over six times. How MOS could not realize why we won and that giving up that many rushing yards is a REAL problem, game in and game out is beyond me, and really troubling.
It has become clear that he won't say anything like that publicly...whether he realizes it or not.