How the heck did the Buffalo Bills lose to the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football? Was it the turnovers? Sure. Was it the inability to shut down Stefon Diggs and Drake Maye? Yup. I could go
on, but there’s a more universal answer.
The Buffalo Bills lost their momentum early and couldn’t get it back.
Momentum isn’t real Skare
Many fans who steer toward logic over emotion sneer at the idea of “momentum.” Some even call it fiction. I’ve heard it said that if you can’t measure it or define it, then it doesn’t exist. You’re in luck, I’ll define it below, but first I have an example for you. Football as a sport has momentum shifts, but it’s not typically so clear as to fully prove its existence. So let’s turn for a moment to my other favorite sport, volleyball.
Both of my daughters played the sport (youngest still does) and in volleyball, momentum is so glaring as to be undeniable. I already intended to write this, but as luck would have it I was gifted a perfect example in Week 5. For those unfamiliar, volleyball is divided into sets rather than time limits. Each set is usually played to 25 points, and teams compete to win the best of five sets. Games can be over in three sets if a team sweeps them.
My daughter’s team has been kicking butt this year. In a recent matchup, they won the first two sets easily, not allowing the other team to reach double digits in points. The third set though was where momentum loss reared it’s ugly head. Mistake after mistake. The entire team. At one point, the other team was ahead 22-20. Then her team took a time out, reset, and found their momentum. They won 25-23.
Defining “momentum”
Despite my usual leaning toward logic rather than emotion when it comes to fandom, you might now know I have a background in psychology. If you use “momentum” to mean some sort of cosmic force that shifts like a changing wind, then I actually agree with momentum cynics. That’s not a thing. If you instead are a fan of behavioral sciences, then momentum becomes very easy to define and yes, I could measure it if I wanted to.
For me, momentum is defined as the impact of the current emotional and psychological state of a team or athlete on their performance. I guarantee you we’ve all seen it and lived it. Frustration, anger, self-doubt, fear, and many other conditions can lead to an impact on performance and a dive in momentum.
Momentum can be a fickle thing. Some people can harness emotions like anger and perform at an even higher level. Some people completely falter when even a little mad. Momentum can be something that’s isolated to one person. Or momentum can be as infectious as a yawn.
Wait. It sounds like you just mean “confidence?” Nope. Not at all. I’ve known many confident people who lose momentum due to some other emotional or psychological well running dry at the wrong time. Do you think for a second that Josh Allen lost his confidence on Sunday night? I don’t. I do think he lost his momentum at times though. So let’s bring this back to the Buffalo Bills.
Momentum sunk the Bills
You can pull out of a momentum tailspin, which we’ve seen Buffalo do. Why not this time? They almost did, which is great news. That said, momentum is not caused by a single event, but it can be impacted by events in-game. When Allen lost the football thanks to the botched snap/handoff to Dawson Knox it wasn’t a death knell for Buffalo. Crap happens. Everyone knows that.
No, that wasn’t enough to rock the mental/emotional boat enough to lose momentum for the entire team. Remember my yawn analogy? The very next snap the Bills’ defense created a turnover of their own. It’s reasonable to think that any damage done by the turnover was likely immediately fixed.
Soon after the Bills gave up the ball again. Every good play was seemingly wiped out by a penalty. I could go on, but we all watched the game. Like my daughter’s team having to claw back a win over a team they had dominated just minutes before, a few miscues introduced frustration and doubt. That led to more miscues, and suddenly the team was reeling.
The [school name redacted] [mascot name redacted] were able to clear their head and play to their potential in time to secure the win. The Buffalo Bills couldn’t this time.
