Guard Todd Herremans is the longest-tenured player on the Eagles. A fourth-round pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, Herremans is a veteran of seven playoff games during his tenure with the team. He explains what the team should get ready for in the days ahead ...
What are the playoffs like?
"The playoffs are fun. Everybody plays in order to get into the playoffs. The biggest change from the regular season is that if you lose, you're done. The atmosphere is more alive. It seems like people move around faster in the playoffs. The intensity changes. At the end of the day, everyone has to remember though that it's still football."
How is the locker room different now compared to your rookie year of 2005?
"When I got here, the Eagles made the playoff s every year. My rookie season was the year aft er they had the run to the Super Bowl. The playoff s were an expected thing. That was the vibe in the locker room. It got to the point where it was taken for granted. Guys could slouch off a little bit and think it was okay because the team was going to make the playoffs. That was the case the past few years and we didn't make the playoff s. There are a lot of young guys here, guys who are hungry. The guys who remain from the last playoff team in 2010 are hungry to not only get back to the playoffs, but win in the playoffs."
What does it mean to win the NFC East in Chip Kelly's first season?
"It means a lot that we won the NFC East in Chip's first year as head coach. This was our plan from the start. This is what we wanted to do. Everyone outside of the NovaCare Complex looked at 2013 as a rebuilding year. Inside the building, we didn't. This shows that we were all on the same page and it didn't really matter what anyone else said. We're playing for one another. We're playing together. Everyone is playing well. The players are hungry and energetic. Everybody has bought into Chip Kelly's program."
