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Momentum

Mistril48

Mistril48

Rookie
With the Texans entering their bye week, perhaps it's agood time to look at the teams that have established a little momentum at this time of their seasons.

In the AFC, only 7 teams have winning records in their last 4 games. The Pats, Jets, Steelers, Colts and Broncos are each 4-0 in their last 4 games (although the game between the Pats and Jets will cost someone some momentum). The Ravens and the Texans are the only other teams in the AFC with winning records in their last 4 game, going 3-1.

Will the 6 AFC playoff teams come from this group of 7 teams?

East . . - Pats / Jets
North . - Steelers
South. - Colts
West . - Broncos

Wildcard - Pats / Jets
. . . . . . - Ravens
. . . . . . - Texans

In the NFC, only 5 teams have winning records in their last 4 games. The Eagles and Giants are 4-0 and the Vikings, Falcons and Rams are 3-1. There are 2 other teams who have winning reocrds this year and have at least non-losing records in their last 4 games (ie 2-2), the Lions and the Seahawks.

Will the 6 NFC playoff teams come from this group of 7 teams?

East . . - Eagles / Giants
North . - Vikings
South. - Falcons
West . - Rams

Wildcard - Eagles / Giants
. . . . . . - Seahawks
. . . . . . - Lions

While it is, of course, way too early to say these teams will be the playoff contenders, they at least have established a little momentum at this point of the season.
 
Momentum is always an interesting subject when it comes to sports in general. Of all the major sports I feel that football is the game least effected by momentum. Sure you can have a nice streak of wins, but they span nearly a month long. Hard to bring momentum with you over the course of a 6 days off. I feel that sports like baseball, basketball, and even hockey tend to benefit more from gaining momentum. They have the advantage of playings games on consecutive days, and in baseball even doubleheaders. Football is sort of like a long horse race. Some teams start off streaking from the gates, some start out slow and steady, and still others stumble out of the gates and come near wiping out. As the race goes on some of the early streakers come back to the middle of the pack while some of those that started out slow and steady and even a few that stumbles out the gates make their way up amongst the leaders. It all goes back and forth over the long season until the champion is crowned. I've never been a big believer of bye weeks hurting a team's momentum, but then again I also never thought momentum was much of a factor in football. I do tend to agree with how you have the playoff picture shaking out right now. The only exceptions being Pittsburgh and St Louis. I feel that Pittsburgh will come back down to the pack once DCoordinators get more game film on Rothelisburger, and I think St Louis will end up as a wildcard with Seattle winning the NFC West.
 
I could not disagree more. Football is a manic sprint and Baseball and Basketball is more of a marathon. Momentum is a product of emotion and emotion drives football more than the other sports. Every game you play in the NFL is much more important than a single game you play in any other league because you only play 16 games in the NFL and each game is so much more important than any one game in the other leagues. I think momentum plays a much bigger part of the psychological make-up in the NFL than in sports that have much longer seasons because each game means that much more.
 
texasguy346 said:
...I do tend to agree with how you have the playoff picture shaking out right now...
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I wasn't making a prediction. I was just organizing the teams based on their perfomance in the last 4 races. Because we have 4 division winners and 2 wildcard, I thought it made sense to lay it out this way.

(as an aside, I would agree with you about the Seahawks / Rams and disagree with you about the Steelers. I think the Steelers are winning because of their overall talent at many positions, not just because of Big Ben. I also think that the Ravens could be in trouble, given their play so far and the suspension of Lewis.)
 
texasguy346 said:
Momentum is always an interesting subject when it comes to sports in general. Of all the major sports I feel that football is the game least effected by momentum. Sure you can have a nice streak of wins, but they span nearly a month long. Hard to bring momentum with you over the course of a 6 days off. I feel that sports like baseball, basketball, and even hockey tend to benefit more from gaining momentum.
Click to expand...

I agree with Vinny on this one. Taking the opposite tack to your's, I think the facts that NFL teams have a break and don't play series of games helps maintain momentum. Absent a gross disparity of talent it is rare in the NBA or MLB for teams to even sweep series. So every week or few days they have the ups and downs of wins and losses. Look at the long win streaks in the NBA and MLB--not positive, but the Patriots have to be getting close to some of the longest streaks ever in those leagues.
 
I guess we agree to disagree on this one. I still feel that the time off for football players hurts any momentum they could have. Emotions are a key factor for every major sport I believe. A pitcher throwing a CG is likely on fumes by the 8th, and using emotion and adrenaline to get him through the rest of the game. Same goes for a PG in basketball if he's played nearly 40 minutes running up and down the court he's relying on emotions to push him to make that last defenisve stand to win the game. The examples are endless, but in the end that basketball/baseball/hockey player goes to sleep that night knowing that sometime the next day he'll do it all over again. Some might say it becomes a routine, and it's hard to build momentum that way. I would counter that in football they prepare all week for the game on Sunday whether they won or lost last Sunday. They study film on their opponents because they might not have faced him before or not enough to have a good read on him. They have meetings going over the other team and their offense/defens. Essientially they go through the same routine every week to prepare for their opponents. I just feel that it's easier for a player to carry the emotions from a win or loss over to the next day rather than the next week. As for Pittsburgh, I agree that the team has carried them moreso than Rothelisburger, but I feel that once DCoordinators get a better feel for him they'll be able to make him uncomfortable and force him to make some mistakes. If Ben fumbles or throws an INT there's not much his team can do about it. They've also been helped by great defensive play. Take Cincinatti (please) for example. Palmer has played alright, but his mistakes have been more costly due to the Bengals horrible defensive play. The Steelers have had terrific play from their OLine, their WR, their D, and their RBs. If a DCoordinator can put pressure on him, and make him forget about one or two of those things then they might have success against the Steelers. All in all the Steelers are stuck in possibly the worst division in football right now so it will essientially be a toss up as to who will win at season's end.
 
Further reflection on which teams have established momentum as of week 8.

In the AFC, only 9 teams have winning records in their last 5 games.

The Steelers are the only team in the AFC that are 5-0 in their last 5 games.

The Texans and Chargers are each 4-1 in their last 5 games and both have a 2 game winning streak.

The Jets are 4-1 in their last 5 games and have a 1 game winning streak.

The Patriots are 4-1 in their last 5 games and each won their last game, but lost their last game.

The Chiefs, Ravens, Colts and Broncos are the only other teams in the AFC with winning records in their last 5 game, going 3-2. Of this group, the Chiefs were the only team that won their last game.

Will the 6 AFC playoff teams come from this group of 9 teams?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Division Games

North . – Steelers . . . . . . . . . (2-1)
South. – Texans . . . . . . . . . . (2-0)
East . . – Pats. . . . . . . . . . . . (3-0)
. . . . . .- Jets . . . . . . . . . . . . (2-1)
West. . - Chargers . . . . . . . . . (1-1)


Wildcard - Pats / Jets
. . . . . . - Broncos. . . . . . . . . (3-0)
. . . . . . - Colts . . . . . . . . . . .(2-1)
. . . . . . - Ravens . . . . . . . . . (2-1)
. . . . . . – Chiefs. . . . . . . . . . (0-1)



In the NFC, only 6 teams have winning records in their last 5 games.

The Eagles are the only team in the NFC that are 5-0 in their last 5 games.

The Giants and Vikings are each 4-1 in their last 5 games.

The Packers, Falcons and Rams are the only other teams in the NFC with winning records in their last 5 game, going 3-2.

Will the 6 NFC playoff teams come from this group of 6 teams?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Division Games

East . . – Eagles . . . . . . . . . . (1-0)
North . – Vikings . . . . . . . . . . (1-0)
South. – Falcons . . . . . . . . . . (1-0)
West . – Rams. . . . . . . . . . . . (1-0)

Wildcard – Giants. . . . . . . . . . (2-1)
. . . . . . .- Packers . . . . . . . . . (1-1)

While it is, of course, way too early to say these teams will be the playoff contenders, they at least have established a little momentum at this point of the season.
 
Being a lover of the game, whether I was losing or winning, I played from the heart. Pure emotion. When I was losing I always believed , "WE can come back." I have noticed however that the majority of players lay down when their down while the rest of us scream at them to wake em up... Momentum is definetly a plus, but not an absolute... :grouphug:
 
Further reflection on which teams have established momentum as of week 9.

In the AFC, only 8 teams have winning records in their last 6 games.

The Steelers are the only team in the AFC that are 6-0 in their last 6 games.

The Patriots, and Chargers are each 5-1 in their last 6 games.

The Texans, Colts, Jets and Ravens are 4-2 in their last 6 games.

Will the 6 AFC playoff teams come from this group of 8 teams?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Overall. . . . .Division Games

North . – Steelers . . . . . . . . . (7-1) . . . . . . . . . (2-1)
South. – Colts. . . . . . . . . . . . (5-3) . . . . . . . . . (2-1)
East . . – Pats. . . . . . . . . . . . (7-1) . . . . . . . . . (3-0)
West . – Chargers . . . . . . . . . (6-3) . . . . . . . . . (1-1)


Wildcard – Texans. . . . . . . . . (4-4) . . . . . . . . . (2-0)
. . . . . . .- Jets . . . . . . . . . . . (6-2) . . . . . . . . . (3-2)
. . . . . . .- Broncos. . . . . . . . . (6-3) . . . . . . . . . (3-0)
. . . . . . .- Ravens . . . . . . . . . (5-3) . . . . . . . . . (2-1)


In the NFC, only 4 teams have winning records in their last 6 games.

The Eagles are the only team in the NFC that are 5-1 in their last 6 games.

The Giants, Falcons and Vikings are each 4-2 in their last 6 games.

The Seahawks, Bucs, Packers, and Rams are the only other teams in the NFC with non-losing records in their last 6 game, going 3-3.

Will the 6 NFC playoff teams come from this group of 8 teams?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Overall . . . . . Division Games

East . . – Eagles . . . . . . . . . . (7-1) . . . . . . . . . (1-0)
North . – Vikings . . . . . . . . . . (5-3) . . . . . . . . . (1-0)
South. – Falcons . . . . . . . . . .(6-2) . . . . . . . . . (1-0)
West . – Seahawks . . . . . . . . (1-0) . . . . . . . . . (2-2)

Wildcard – Giants . . . . . . . . . (5-3) . . . . . . . . . (2-1)
. . . . . . .- Packers . . . . . . . . (4-4) . . . . . . . . . (1-1)
. . . . . . .- Bucs . . . . . . . . . . (3-5) . . . . . . . . . (1-0)
. . . . . . .- Rams. . . . . . . . . . (4-4) . . . . . . . . . (3-0)

While it is, of course, way too early to say these teams will be the playoff contenders, they at least have established a little momentum at this point of the season.
 
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