Late-season NFL momentum about more than winning games
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Joe Flacco was walking around the Baltimore Ravens headquarters the other day wearing a USA Track & Field T-shirt.
But though the Super Bowl XLVII MVP knows as well as anyone that the NFL season is a marathon, not a sprint, it's time for teams like the Ravens to start making a final kick in their bids to hit the championship tape.
"We've always been in the hunt at this time of the year and realize how important these games are," Flacco, who quarterbacked the Ravens to the playoffs in his first five seasons, told USA TODAY Sports. "It's how we practice, how we prepare, and how we stay calm throughout the season. We don't change. We don't make this game bigger than it is — it's a game, and we gotta go win."
That will certainly be true Sunday, when Baltimore basically needs to beat the Cleveland Browns and hope the San Diego Chargers lose to reach postseason. If that occurs, Flacco and many of his teammates know well that merely surviving into January has allowed numerous middle-of-the-pack teams to overtake the frontrunners.
Six of the past nine Super Bowl champions didn't earn a first-round bye. Three of those teams (2005 Pittsburgh Steelers, 2007 New York Giants, 2010 Green Bay Packers) were wild-card entries who had to take the long road to glory while playing exclusively on the road.
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Bottom line? Getting hot trumps being dominant throughout the season.
"Everybody kind of kicks it into high gear, and everybody understands there has to be a heightened sense of urgency," wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, whose 9-7 Arizona Cardinals nearly won Super Bowl XLIII after the 2008 season, told USA TODAY Sports.
But creating that winning recipe can require a variety of ingredients depending on whom you ask.
The Ravens are 28-16 after November since Flacco and coach John Harbaugh arrived in 2008. Why? Flacco, who's never missed an NFL start, points to Harbaugh's ability to preserve players' health.
"When these (coaches) think about December football, they're altering our schedule in April, May and June and July — the schedule we do at that point has something to do with how he feels we're gonna play in December," said Flacco. "It's very well thought out, and it's worked well for us."
Another factor can be the contributions of rookies ... or lack thereof.
"Anybody can be physical in September," 2002 league MVP Rich Gannon, who now contributes to CBS Sports Network's NFL Monday QB, told USA TODAY Sports. "Your body's feeling good, you're flying around. As the season goes along, adversity hits, your body starts to break down, it's easy for the mind to wander — holidays, start thinking about the offseason — particularly young players, who aren't used to a 16-game schedule. They're used to going home at Thanksgiving, but that's where football really begins in the NFL."
Dallas Cowboys guard Zack Martin, Carolina Panthers wideout Kelvin Benjamin, Indianapolis Colts guard Jack Mewhort and Cardinals speed receiver John Brown are among notable rookies who have been mainstays to teams hopeful of making deep runs this season.
Yet less heralded first-year players, like fourth-round New England Patriots center Bryan Stork, can play equally pivotal roles, whether starting or not, if their teams make early commitments to their long-term success.
Stork made his first start Sept. 29, when the Patriots were memorably blown out 41-14 on Monday Night Football by the Kansas City Chiefs, causing many pundits to pen obituaries for the New England dynasty.
"Certain organizations have a corporate philosophy that survives 365 days a year. The most obvious example is New England. They don't ever change. Their whole goal is to get a little bit better every day," NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock told USA TODAY Sports. "And a lot of people wrote them off earlier in the year when they had that bad loss to Kansas City. I was laughing listening to people question whether Tom Brady should be the starting quarterback.
"I couldn't believe it. But they don't let anything outside influence them, and they keep getting better. They're really suited well to play their best football at the end of the season."
Three months later, that's certainly proven to be the case. Stork solidified a starting job while his team is comfortably cemented as the AFC's No. 1 seed with a week left in the regular season after winning 10 of its past 11 outings. These Pats won't sneak up on anyone, but one of their key factors to success certainly won't overshadow headlines touting Brady and Rob Gronkowski.
"I think the great coaches understand you've got to develop depth in this league, which means that your younger players have to get snaps," said Mayock.
"And it's hard on coaches because they trust certain players that have done it for them in the past. It's hard to say, 'I'm gonna let that rookie, fifth-round kid play some in a game that matters because I might need him in November and December.' I think the successful teams find ways to integrate youth into their lineup early enough in the season that it matters later."
Another potential factor? Outside expectations.
Under Peyton Manning's watch, the Colts and, now, Denver Broncos both typically hovered around the NFL's mountain top but have only reached the summit once with the league's only five-time MVP.
The 2011 Packers went 15-1 and were ready to be chiseled next to the league's all-time great teams. Four years before that, the 2007 Patriots managed to become the only team to go 16-0 in a regular season. But both those clubs succumbed to seemingly unspectacular Giants outfits who caught lightning in a bottle both years before eventually taking home the Lombardi Trophy.
"Those '07 Patriots players would never admit this. But you can't run from the narrative," former Ravens quarterback and current ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer told USA TODAY Sports when asked about never-ending media scrutiny for the sexy teams.
"It's gonna change the way you think, it's going to create an extra layer of expectation and pressure."
That kind of white-hot glare is rarely focused on the teams that are just heating up. And going relatively unnoticed can even provide extra fuel.
"Grand scheme of things, maybe we're not the biggest story," said Flacco, who has only enjoyed one bye week among his five playoff trips and has had to grind through Januarys. "It seems like we usually play under the radar, and people don't really talk about us or give us that much credit. But in the end, we're usually right there.
"You kind of get used to it and thrive off of it. It's always in the back of your mind that maybe somebody doesn't respect you as much as you think they should."
Dilfer can relate.
He got a ring with the 2000 Ravens, even though he's often portrayed as riding shotgun with one of the greatest defenses the league has ever seen. Now he loves studying teams in all sports, citing the NBA's San Antonio Spurs and Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants as non-NFL examples, trying to glean what goes into championship DNA, especially when the analytics suggest an unfavorable outcome based on a season's body of work.
"You never go tactics, you never go talent, you always go culture," said Dilfer, who puts a premium on team chemistry, philosophical buy-in and resilience when it comes to winning football games when winter arrives.
"Somebody right now is brewing a really special culture, a really special mindset. They embrace the hard stuff. They're not overwhelmed by the chaos of a championship run. They're living in the moment, they're not looking ahead. Those types of things are almost always what you hear a championship team say."
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Follow Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis
