I'd rather be in a good position in the playoffs and holding up a World Series trophy than holding up an MVP trophy.
Aaron Judge
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
It's fun running out onto the field. It's much more fun playing in the playoffs.
Adam Vinatieri
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
The most important thing is not the regular year, it's the playoffs.
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
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
Obviously, if you go to the playoffs you have an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl.
Amari Cooper
If you just look at the numbers, you pretty much have to get 10 wins to get into the playoffs, sometimes more than that.
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
Winning the Rookie of the Year would be nice but making the playoffs would be even nicer for me.
Andrew Bogut
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
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.
Hopefully my time in Nashville has helped me. We've had a lot of different things happen to our hockey club, seen a lot of different situations and different types of clubs from an expansion team to a Stanley Cup playoff threat. I think any coach that's gone through those things, you become a better coach.
Barry Trotz
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You just want the highs to start once the playoffs start.
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.
I played in Joe Louis in a playoff game. I played there when the roof caved in for half a season. The facility is great for basketball because it goes straight up, so you feel like the fans are on top of you.
During the playoffs, I tone down the Internet usage.
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.
Hard fouls are a part of playoff basketball, and I think that's how basketball should be. I don't take those fouls personally.
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.
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.
I mean, that's playoff hockey. You're not going to dominate every game, you're not going to score every goal.
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.
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.
You have to be able to win on the road if you want to win in the playoffs.
I've been to NBA playoff games.
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.
Any competitor would be frustrated in that moment... but it certainly made sense what Coach Kubiak did for the playoff run. I got replaced by Peyton Manning... I think we all know who is going to play in the game.
I loved the three years I had in Cleveland, especially that playoff run with Timmy Couch and Kelly Holcomb. And obviously those great years in Pittsburgh.
On our way to the Super Bowl XV Championship, the Oakland Raiders played a frigid 1981 AFC playoff game in Cleveland, in which the temperatures plunged to -35 degrees. I remember looking up in the stands to see a dedicated Cleveland Brown fan celebrating topless.
When games get tight in the playoffs, especially in the Finals, there's no space. There's no clean looks.
When you're in the playoffs, you have to get easy baskets and you have to limit their easy baskets.
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.
I think any time you bring those guys in, one with a lot of playoff experience, with rings - those guys won - guys in the locker room gravitate towards those guys. Those guys have been there, so there's a lot that they can teach the guys.
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.
We want to be in playoffs, we want to fight for a title.
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.
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?'
