Momentum (or lack of) going into the playoffs (1 Viewer)

[GregR]

Article by Sam Farmerdiscussing Super Bowl champions and what kind of end of season momentum they had going into the playoffs.He found that 7 of the last 8 Super Bowl champs had let downs in the last two months of the season:

So mark this down: Losing at the end of the regular season can be a good thing.That's what the champion Baltimore Ravens did, dropping four of their last five games this season before igniting in the playoffs and knocking off Indianapolis, Denver, New England and finally San Francisco in Super Bowl XLVII.And the Ravens were traveling a well-worn path. The 2011 New York Giants won it all after losing four games in a row in November and December. The 2010 Green Bay Packers lost three of four down the stretch. The 2009 New Orleans Saints lost their last three in the regular season. The 2007 Giants were 4-4 over a November-December stretch. The 2006 Indianapolis Colts lost four of their last seven. And the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers had a three-game losing streak during November and December.

Curious to hear people's thoughts on whether they agree with this, and how much.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

You sneak up on people.

 

[Anarchy99]

I think a big factor is teams having guys that were hurt (and missed time, accounting for the losses) that got healthy for the playoffs. That gave the impression that those teams weren't great heading into the post season.On the flip side, some of the teams with better records may have had guys that got hurt that did not return, so the previously great teams were not at full strength (and thus suffered in the playoffs). Look at NE last year and this year when they had to play in the post season without Gronkowski (who made a huge impact on their offense).

 

[Raiderfan32904]

I think it's evidence that the regular season is too long and even the best teams can't cope with the attrition. It's almost a season of two halves where a team can get hot after floundering early. Maybe it's just an abberation, but I think it would be the rule if they extend to an 18 gm season.

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

some teams peak too early, Houston this year, if they played the superbowl in Novemember maybe they win it.GB two seasons ago was jsut smashing fools, then Jennings got nicked and the D wilted.you can go on and onThe NFL season is a grind, a marathon, just get into the playoffs and you never know.

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Fluke IMO. Put 12 fairly matched teams into a single-elimination tournament and you're going to see a lot of odd results, with people looking for explanations where none are needed. If it wasn't '7/8 had late-season swoons' it'd be '6/8 #2 seeds won' or 'all the SB winners rested their QBs in Week 17' or etc etc.

 

[GregR]

Fluke IMO. Put 12 fairly matched teams into a single-elimination tournament and you're going to see a lot of odd results, with people looking for explanations where none are needed. If it wasn't '7/8 had late-season swoons' it'd be '6/8 #2 seeds won' or 'all the SB winners rested their QBs in Week 17' or etc etc.

I think a point of the piece though, is that it's a common mantra that it's beneficial to have momentum going into the playoffs. That teams want to go in on a winning streak.I don't think this discussion is so much about find some combination of otherwise random factors that suggest a trend, so much as directly testing a commonly held perception.