Longtime NFL veterans finding the playoff promised land
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Carlos Dunlap was tired of losing.
He was tired of putting in the work — those soul-crushing days in the heat of training camp, the daily grind of the regular season — only to reach the playoffs and watch it all go to waste with yet another disappointing defeat.
Six times, the veteran defensive end had played in the postseason. Six times, he went home a loser.
“I'd done a lot of football,” Dunlap acknowledged, “without winning a playoff game.”
Not anymore. Six months after signing with the Kansas City Chiefs, Dunlap has not one playoff win but two, and a chance to add a third — the biggest one possible — when they play the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in the Super Bowl.
“The number of guys who, you know, come to me saying they want to get it done for me, I'm very appreciative,” Dunlap said, “but I want us to get this done for us. That's why I say the job's not done. Just lock in for these next couple days and we'll have forever to celebrate. It took me 200 games to get to this one." It took 205, to be exact. Dunlap isn't the only player Sunday with a chance to go from playoff-zero to Super Bowl hero. On the opposite sideline, Eagles pass rusher Robert Quinn had played 171 games and lost both of his previous playoff games, and cornerback Darius Slay had suited up 154 times and been 0-3 in the postseason, before their wins over the Giants and 49ers this season.
“I was in Detroit for seven years, which was hard to get past. I've been to the playoffs twice when I was in Detroit and didn't get past the first round,” said Slay, who also lost with Philadelphia in the wild-card round last season. "I'm thankful for the Eagles trading for me to make me come over here and I'm getting to experience my first Super Bowl.”
Some players spend their entire careers without ever having that experience. Take retired linebacker Takeo Spikes, who spent 15 seasons and appeared in 219 games for the Bengals, Bills, 49ers, Chargers and, yes, the Eagles. All those teams qualified for this year's postseason, incidentally, yet none made it while he was on their roster. Instead, they found themselves in the midst of teardowns, rebuilds or frustrated by near-misses.
No player in the Super Bowl era has appeared in more games without making a single playoff appearance.
Rian Lindell came close, though. Before he retired, Lindell had kicked in 212