The same statistics wonk has done a lot of work on "momentum" in games. His conclusion is that there is no such thing: http://www.advancednflstats.com/2013/11/

The same statistics wonk has done a lot of work on "momentum" in games. His conclusion is that there is no such thing: http://www.advancednflstats.com/2013/11/momentum-1.html http://www.advancednflstats.com/2013/11/momentum-1.html That jibes with my own anecdotal experience watching a lot of football, despite how often announcers like to cite it as a factor.