The Pittsburgh Steelers, like all NFL teams, are more than just an inherited rite of passage, they're entertainment. That same entertainment that fans love is a major business. The NFL earns about $18 billion in revenue each year, with Commissioner Roger Goodell saying the goal is to make $25 billion by 2027. The majority of that money comes from TV revenue, which relies heavily on advertising during games.
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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Momentum in sports is difficult to define, but anyone who has ever played or watched a game knows exactly what it is, that feeling that your team is unstoppable. Regardless of whether it is during a game or a season, your team seems to be firing on all cylinders, every pass is landing, each run is picking up yardage, and the defense is shutting your opponent down. When your team is in the zone, this positive momentum feels like it negatively impacts the other team, causing them to make more mistakes.
As a Steelers fan, you'd be hard-pressed to deny the existence of momentum, we all watched last season as then-rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett engineered four game-winning drives. Even more so than Pickett was the prior quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The number of times Roethlisberger flawlessly executed a two-minute offense and brought the team back from the brink of a loss is hard to count. That kind of in-game momentum is something that is so present, it is almost palpable.
For those who say momentum is a myth, science says you're wrong. A study by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor, Paul Roebber, proved that momentum is a real thing, teams are positively impacted by it, and opponents are negatively impacted by it. Roebber says that this happens both in a game and across a season. He calls it the "winners effect." It is a "psychological testosterone boost" and one win, large or small, builds upon another.
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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger during Super Bowl XL
As a fan, not much is more frustrating than being focused on an important drive and then the play ends. The screen then cuts away to an advertisement. It always feels like it breaks the momentum and we are just casual fans, so you wonder if the players feel that way too.
Steelers' Ramon Foster On The Frustration of Having Momentum Interrupted
Former Steelers offensive guard Ramon Foster now co-hosts a podcast with reporter Dejan Kovacevic that airs on DK Pittsburgh Sports, called The Ramon Foster Show. On a recent episode, a fan asked about momentum and how players felt about TV timeouts. Foster said that momentum is a very real phenomenon for him.
"I'll be honest with you because these are some of the things me as a player would internalize and just be like, 'Alright, we about to get them.' I don't care if they call a timeout. It's such a savage mindset."
Foster said that when the timeout was a result of the other team calling it, instead of just a TV timeout, they would all immediately feel that they had their opponents where they wanted them, like they were running scared and had to break to regroup. To him, it was a sign they were intimidating the other team or making them worry the game was slipping away. Foster said that just motivated them further.
"This is not gonna help you guys, you can't stop what we are doing."
The players would be motivated by the request for a break. Foster said the worst thing they could do is to let them pick up another run, another five yards. Then, according to Foster, the other team would look deflated, unable to catch their breath. It gives the players such a feeling of euphoria, the only thing that was better was when the momentum was going against them and then flipped.
"That momentum flip, there is nothing like it, there's no feeling like it. We're getting to the end zone through a pass or we're gonna shove it down your mouth."
Foster said that the teams really have to find what works for them to keep that momentum up during timeouts. While many dismiss momentum as being an illusion, Foster said it's not, it's something that has to be maintained during a break.
"How did we keep it? Stayed in the huddle, and let the quarterback go to the sideline the moment we break formation. The momentum won't leave as long as we stay tight."
Foster said you have to keep your teammates pumped up, "Come on guys let's finish this." While momentum might be intangible, that doesn't make it any less real or valuable.
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Steelers' Kenny Pickett in 2023.
The Steelers seemed to finish the 2022 season with some momentum, winning seven out of their last nine games. We saw Pickett and his young offense hit a kind of stride. While there was still room for improvement, they appeared to have that "winning mentality" and it showed.
Now fans are all anxiously waiting to see if the Steelers will come into the 2023 season and capitalize on that same momentum and improve upon what they started building last season.
What do you think, is momentum real? Does it bother you as a fan when we are engineering a great drive and all of a sudden, it stops for a TV timeout? Click to comment below.
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