What's interesting to me is how teams sometimes burn their timeouts just to stop the momentum the other team has. This happens in basketball all the time. Other than to set up a game winning shot most basketball coaches use their timeouts to stop momentum. One team may go on a 10-0 run, maybe it's the home team, the crowd is going crazy, and the opposing coach calls a timeout. I often wonder what would happen if they wouldn't call timeout. Would the team with momentum possibly go on another 10-0 run and blow the team out or would momentum eventually swing back by itself? Sometimes coaches use timeouts in a college football for the same purpose. This may happen where one team is running a quick tempo and gets in a rhythm and a coach takes a timeout just to slow them down. Occasionally a player may even fake an injury just to slow the opponent down. It might be done in part to give the defense a breather but it's also to try and break the momentum of the other team.