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CHIEFS: It has been six years since Kansas City made a playoff appearance. Only Cincinnati, San Diego and Carolina had gone longer.
Just 17 of the 53 players have been in the playoffs, and most with other clubs. Several key players, from quarterback Trent Green to defensive tackle Ryan Sims to cornerback Eric Warfield, don't know what the playoffs are all about.
Make no mistake, say those who've been there: Regular-season and postseason experience may as well be night and day.
"It's a different environment and a whole new experience," said cornerback Dexter McCleon, whose seven playoff games with the Rams put him behind only kicker Morten Andersen among Chiefs with postseason tenure. "A lot of guys are playing in it for the first time and are going to be very excited. You have to find a way to stay within yourself because you have to play the game the same way you did all year."
COLTS: Brandon Stokley missed all of the team's minicamps because of a foot injury. He practiced five days in training camp and played in just the last two preseason games. He then labored through most of the first half of the season after injuring a hamstring and sustaining a concussion.
By the end of the regular season, Stokley began to show flashes of why the wait was worth it.
The big payoff came Sunday when Stokley scored the game's first points on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Peyton Manning. In the second quarter, he added an 87-yard touchdown catch. Stokley surfaced as a big-game producer with a career-high 144 receiving yards in helping to lead the Colts to their 41-10 victory over Denver.
Stokley has become a key complement to Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis' All-Pro receiver. But if Stokley, 27, can maintain his current drive, he will become much more than a complement.
"When you have an offense with the line we have, with the quarterback in Peyton we have, with Edgerrin James at running back and Marvin at receiver and Reggie Wayne, too, and toss in all the other ingredients, it is an offense that allows for different guys to be able to make big plays," said Stokley, a fourth-round pick in the 1999 draft. "Our guys on offense know that anyone in any given moment or game can be the guy. That makes it exciting."
PATRIOTS: Bill Belichick and his team were perfectly content with the condition of their soft, muddy and chewed-up field at Gillette Stadium.
It turns out the NFL wasn't as thrilled with it.
And what the league wants, the league gets. In this case, that meant a new playing surface in Foxboro for the divisional playoff game against Tennessee on Saturday night.
The Patriots had the entire field resodded, not just the area between the numbers as is usually the case. Crews completed the work Sunday.