The first thought is always about making the playoffs. That's the tough part. And once you get there, only then you can allow yourself to start thinking how you are going to play in the playoffs against other teams. And a lot is left to chance then. There's an element of luck as well: sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you do not.

Alexander Ovechkin

I'd rather be in a good position in the playoffs and holding up a World Series trophy than holding up an MVP trophy.

Mass layoffs produce big winners and losers. Most workers who remain are financially unscathed, even though their employer is struggling.

Adam Cohen

Work Workers Worker

One way to reduce the need for layoffs would be to cut back on hours, spreading the available work among more employees.

Adam Cohen

Work Would Way

We know how hard it is to get to the playoffs in general, and then to get to the NFC Championship Game. You just never know if you'll have the opportunity again, so you really want to make the most of it.

Adam Thielen

You Want Us

It's fun running out onto the field. It's much more fun playing in the playoffs.

Adam Vinatieri

Yin UN T

Making the playoffs is hard to come by, so if you can help contribute to your team's success it's always a successful time.

Adam Vinatieri

Time Success Your

It's funny, but when there are dominant teams, there are a number of people who rail about the fact that they're always seeing the Dallas Cowboys or the San Francisco 49ers or the Green Bay either in the playoffs or in the Super Bowl.

Al Michaels

Funny Who Ways

It's not how you start the season, it's how you finish. If you wind up helping the team make the playoffs, that's what you play for. You don't play to put up your numbers, but to try to get a chance to make it to the World Series.

Albert Pujols

Chance Art Your

You get a taste of playing in the playoffs and what that's like, and it's a completely different world. You get a taste in those meaningful games. You get that taste, and you can't get it out. You want more.

Alex Smith

You Yin World

Every time when the season starts you have a goal, right? To reach the playoffs. You reach the playoffs, and then the next step is to win the Cup.

Alexander Ovechkin

Time Art You

The first thought is always about making the playoffs. That's the tough part. And once you get there, only then you can allow yourself to start thinking how you are going to play in the playoffs against other teams. And a lot is left to chance then. There's an element of luck as well: sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you do not.

Alexander Ovechkin

Time Men Chance

The most important thing is not the regular year, it's the playoffs.

Alexander Ovechkin

Year Thing Thin

MMA is not one of those up and down basketball seasons where you have a ton of games and you can still make the playoffs. It doesn't work like that in MMA. You get a couple losses, you get washed up, you get the door slammed behind you and they bring in the next person behind you who is here to take your place.

Aljamain Sterling

Work Your You

I don't want to just go to the playoffs, I don't want to go to the playoffs and win the first round, second round, and not win the whole thing because it's bittersweet.

Allen Iverson

Win Whole Who

Today's business and health care climate may not be pleasant. Cutbacks, pay cuts and layoffs do not make anyone's job easy. But that does not mean that the humor need stop.

Allen Klein

Humor Health Car

Obviously, if you go to the playoffs you have an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl.

Amari Cooper

You Us Up

If you just look at the numbers, you pretty much have to get 10 wins to get into the playoffs, sometimes more than that.

Amari Cooper

Time You Wins

There are a lot of guys who average a lot of points, but they make the game hard for themselves, and they make the game hard for their teammates, and that's why you never really see them win or get deep in the playoffs.

Andre Iguodala

Age You Win

Winning the Rookie of the Year would be nice but making the playoffs would be even nicer for me.

Andrew Bogut

Year Would Winning

It's not easy to make the playoffs, and I think a lot of people overlook that. They think it's a piece of cake, but it's definitely not.

Anthony Rendon

Think Thin T

When you make the playoffs, it's like you've done your job for the team. I've got that moment in my mind all the time, and I want to be there again.

Asdrubal Cabrera

That's everyone's motivation: to get to the playoffs and win the World Series.

Asdrubal Cabrera

I'm a big believer that if you can have success in the playoffs, when it means the most and when the game is at its highest pace, it always carries into the next year and it gives a player confidence.

Barry Trotz

The team that can be consistent - for the most part all year - is going to be the team that is going to get into the playoffs.

Barry Trotz

You make mental notes. You're a coach, so you make mental notes from matchups, to who steps up in the playoffs to who doesn't, different types of players.

Barry Trotz

I just want to help, first of all, the Chicago Fire to grow, to change the mentality to a winning team, and to reach the playoffs. That's my goal. But also to change the game style into a team which is able to control every opponent.

Bastian Schweinsteiger

Most companies that go through layoffs are never the same. They don't recover because trust is broken. And if you're not honest at the point where you're breaking trust anyway, you will never recover.

Ben Horowitz

You don't get a chance to go to the playoffs and World Series very often, but to be able to experience it with the people you love most in the world is really fun.

Ben Zobrist

You just want the highs to start once the playoffs start.

Ben Zobrist

I just love the Buffalo market. Say what you want about their fans, it'll be December and they've been out of the playoffs for a month. But if there's a December game with snow, there's still going to be 72,000 people in those stands. One of the most passionate, loyal groups of fans in the National Football League, bar none.

Bill Cowher

During the playoffs, I tone down the Internet usage.

Blake Griffin

When you have a tough year or a year that didn't go the way you wanted it, especially the playoffs and all that and not being able to take advantage of our team and our talent on our team, you feel that. And whenever something is taken away from you like that, you definitely cherish it more.

Blake Griffin

Every team starts out at the beginning of the year saying, 'We want to win a championship,' but you've got to have a goal of getting to the playoffs first.

Blake Griffin

Usually when there are a lot of layoffs, like in 2008 and 2009, business creation tends to spike. But that didn't happen right away, partly because people trying to start a business couldn't get credit.

Brad D. Smith

If you are not playing for the Stanley Cup at the end of the year, what's the point? If you don't win, you may as well not make the playoffs, because you are loser just like everyone else.

Brad Marchand

In playoffs, it's so emotional and the tension's really high and guys are laying everything on the line. And when you do that, things get chippy and guys are playing aggressively, and I think it just comes out in the playoffs a little more. When you know what's on the line and what you're expected to do, it just comes out.

Brad Marchand

That's what you need to win a Cup and go far in the playoffs, you need every guy to be accountable in all areas of the ice.

Brad Marchand

You have to be able to win on the road if you want to win in the playoffs.

Brad Marchand

You always want to feel better but I'm good. My thing is once you get to the playoffs, you do whatever it takes. You've got to lay it on the line.

Brian Jordan

When games get tight in the playoffs, especially in the Finals, there's no space. There's no clean looks.

C. J. McCollum

When you're in the playoffs, you have to get easy baskets and you have to limit their easy baskets.

C. J. McCollum

I think being able to make the playoffs alone is an outstanding accomplishment alone and something not a lot of people get to experience in their careers.

C. J. McCollum

I really love Philadelphia and all of the fans, my teammates, the front office, the organization, everybody. I know I'm going to miss them. I really appreciate everything we did together. On the other side, I am happy because I have a chance to go to the playoffs. Another opportunity, maybe, to go to the World Series.

Carlos Ruiz

We want to be in playoffs, we want to fight for a title.

Carlos Vela

I've been on teams that lost a hundred games in a season. I've been on teams that had a shot to make the playoffs and fizzled out at the end.

Chili Davis

Playing eight years, never making the playoffs, you feel like you're running on a treadmill that's going nowhere. You're like, 'Is this it? Is this all football is?'

Chris Long

I joke that every time I'm in the playoffs, it feels like I'm in the Super Bowl.

Chris Long

I've been in the league 12 years. To sit on the bench and complain about the way things were, that doesn't get anything done. I don't know. I'm playing for a championship and trying to make the playoffs. My effort has never changed.

Chris Webber

I played in the playoffs with teams that were known for flopping and you do not get respect.

Chris Webber

It would have been great to have had 10 victories and been in the playoffs and have gone all the way and then said, 'Goodbye,' but it didn't work out that way.

Chuck Noll