Three weeks ago, the Seahawks beat the Giants on the Meadowlands. It was a mostly unremarkable game, serving as a microcosm of New York's slow talent rot that culminated in the near-loss against the repugnant Miami Dolphins today.
Instead of sighing in relief, most Seahawk fans took that win as a milestone, another solid rock for Pete Carroll's rebuilding wagon to step upon. It helps that the win came before a bye week, so we had two whole weeks to soak it in. "They won! On the road! At 10AM! Against a team that's supposed to be good! Things are only looking up!" The common thread throughout was this word that means little in reality but means everything to fantasy writers and sports pundits: momentum.
The Seahawks beat a team they weren't supposed to beat. So of course they would carry momentum through the bye week. How does one have momentum in a bye week? Fuck you, it's momentum and you're too much of a simpleton to understand. Momentum will help them against the Browns. Momentum will help Charlie Whitehurst go through his progressions, fix the run game, and get the defense off the field quicker. Momentum.
The Seahawks lost to the Browns in one of the worst games in franchise history. Seven days later, they lost to the Bengals in one of the worst games in franchise history. None of that feel-good, media-friendly juju helped them in either case.
You should already see where I'm going with this, but just in case: talent wins football games. Momentum does not, and neither does narrative. I don't care about the player's individual life stories or their halftime speeches. I want my team to be good at football, and win football games because they're good at football. Spare me the smokescreens.