Momentum. Momentum.

Last weekend, 3 of the 4 best football teams were slapped, slashed, slammed, and slaughtered. Carolina Panthers? Goodbye! Tennessee Titans? Farewell! New York Giants? Oh good day to you too!
Seriously, what happened?

P = mv

In other words, momentum.

There are all sorts of possible factors to a game: weather, injuries, morale, and overall skill. With those factors, teams can prepare for that. You got the weather forecast, the medical slip, the reports of the locker room, and statistics of the team's past games. But for momentum? Well, that is one clear factor no one can be truly sure. There isn't anything that can determine who is going to come out playing tougher. Whoever that is, though, is likely to win.

If you look at previous years, a lot of it can line up. Between 2000 to 2008, half of the Super Bowl Champions were a Wild Card team, playing all four necessary football games to win.

Now, if you look what happen to the Panthers, Titans, and Giants, they had a bye-week during the first week of playoffs. There isn't a direct correlation with a bye-week to a slump game. Usually there isn't. During the regular season, teams use their bye-week to rest up and prepare and fix their problems to do better against their next opposing team. But since it is the playoffs, maybe that reasoning should be thrown out.

If you look at the MLB's 2006 World Series, the Detroit Tigers had over a week to rest and relax for the championship match. Normally teams don't wait a week, more likely three to four days, but because they swept their previous opponents 4 wins to 0 loses, the Tigers had plenty of time. However, if you watched that series, the Detroit Tigers were no longer that crushing force. The players lost their timing of their swings, pitchers throws were off, the fundamentals were forgotten, and the team stunk.

When you consider that, maybe it can relate to the falls of the strong football teams this weekend. Maybe that bye-week was truly the culprit of their devastating loss. No one can be for sure.

But when all is said and done, momentum is key in any sports game when everything is up for grabs. So don't waste an opportunity when all looks well. Even the best can be fooled in the end.