I think the best part about making the playoffs is that we get to forget about the whole season for the most part. Even though we made the playoffs we knew that things should have been a lot better. It should have never came down to that. The good thing is that we're in. Whether you go 16-0 like New England a year ago or you get there like we did, all that matters is getting in because when you're in; that's the only thing that ensures you a chance at the ultimate prize, which is the Super Bowl. Now that we're in, we just have to focus on that. We don't have to worry about anything else except coming in, being ready to play and being the best team on Sunday.

It feels like a weight is off our shoulders because everything that happened before is completely irrelevant. We can talk about things that happened in Week 2 against Dallas, Chicago, all those things that could end up hurting you later on but now that we're in the playoffs, none of those things matter anymore. You don't have to revisit all of those things, all those situations that at one point you missed taking advantage of because we're in the playoffs. That's all that matters now. We get to now focus on Minnesota and going in and playing the best football we can.

Towards the end of the season, you start to wear down mentally but all of sudden it's like the season started all over again. The excitement of going in and playing and the jitters during the week, they're all back and that's nice. Not that you don't look forward to playing, but when you're at the end of the year, it takes a little longer to get ready. It takes the whole week to get yourself into that mindset. Everybody can't be like Dawkins, being like that all the time.

I was excited on Tuesday morning. I wasn't excited Monday because I was sick, but I was excited. I woke up at 7 and couldn't go back to sleep. My girl was looking at me like I was crazy. I'm pumped up. I want to see the atmosphere; it will remind me a lot like college where every single game matters in terms of the BCS. I'm pumped. I've never been to Minnesota, either. I'm kind of excited to see Adrian Peterson play.

We talk about how long a journey this season has been all the time. Just the fact that this is Week 18 and that's just counting the regular season. For us, counting Lehigh, it isn't like everybody else. It's not like Dallas counting camp or anybody else counting camp. In Lehigh, we're playing football. We're tackling to the ground. This is like Week 24 for us already. I think mostly, looking back on it, we're kind of glad Andy put us through that because our record in December the last couple years speaks for itself. We tend to get stronger when everybody else is getting weaker. I think that's probably one of the main reasons we feel so good right now.