By attacking the knight, under the idea that black takes your rook, you win two pieces for one. For example, 9.a3 Bxf1 (bishop takes rook) 10. Qxf1 (queen recaptures rook) and now the knight is trapped. If knight goes to a6, you capture with queen. Everything else is guarded by either pawn or bishop. All in all, you win two minor pieces for a rook.
Protect rook or threaten knight?
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Game analysis said this was a miss, but it seemed more important to me to protect the rook than to threaten the knight.. right?
I threatened the knight on the next turn (and got it and eventual checkmate - https://www.chess.com/game/02489eb6-168c-11ee-90b8-97ef8a01000f). So why was threatening the knight worth losing the rook?