Then, as Dolphins wide receiver Brandon London wiped the sleep from his eyes on the morning of his day off Tuesday, he did something he hasn't done in months: London reached for his Super Bowl ring.

"I just felt real lazy -- didn't feel like doing anything," he said. "But when I slid it on my finger and started looking at it, I got right up. I took my dog and went for a long jog to get the soreness out. It's just a reminder. It's a motivator."

London, you see, was on the practice squad of the New York Giants last year.

He was part of a team that lost its first two games (just like the Dolphins this year) and entered the playoffs as a lowly No. 5 seed -- but eventually prospered to win one of the most improbable championships in the history of the game.

Although London never played a down during the Giants' storied Super Bowl victory over the Patriots, he still got something very valuable: A belief. A lesson. And an understanding of exactly what to expect from this year's postseason.

'ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN'

Now, he and the small handful of other Dolphins who have experienced that playoff prowess are using those memories to instill that same understanding in their teammates.

"I just tell them that every team is beatable," said linebacker Reggie Torbor, who started for that same Giants team. "There's no difference right now between us and the No. 1 seed.

"We have our foot in the door now. Once you do that, anything can happen."

Torbor also pulled out his Super Bowl ring Tuesday night. He wore it to the Miami Heat game against the Cavaliers. Like London, Torbor beamed as he spoke of the ring, joking that the shining diamonds might have been the reason Dwyane Wade missed a layup.

"It feels good, man," Torbor said. "It's something that can never be taken away. At the end, there's nothing like being the last team standing."

But as these playoff-experienced players will testify, the most important lesson to learn about the postseason isn't worrying about being the last team standing. More simply, it's about putting every bit of emphasis on the first game as opposed to the last one.

PORTER'S VIEW

Linebacker Joey Porter, who was the inspirational leader of another improbable Super Bowl team when he played for the Steelers in 2005, said his message to his former teammates was the same then as it will be for this year's team.

"There's no other games if you don't win the first one," Porter said.

Just like last year's Giants, those Steelers with Porter as a captain also were an improbable victor, entering the postseason as a fifth-seeded team. But, as Porter said, it isn't about which team is hot during the regular season. It's about which team gets hot right now.

"You want to be playing your best Football in January," Porter said. "Once you get to the tournament, anything can happen. We did it. So did the Giants. Nobody's record matters once you get into the tournament."

'IT'S INTENSE'

These are lessons that not everyone has experienced. Linebacker Channing Crowder has never been to this point. Neither has cornerback Andre' Goodman. Or rookies Phillip Merling and Kendall Langford.

On the offense, it's a similar story of youth and postseason inexperience. Tackle Jake Long and running back Ronnie Brown have never made it. Same goes for center Samson Satele and more than a few others.

That's why linebacker Akin Ayodele, who has plenty of playoff experience from his tenure with the Cowboys, surveyed several players Wednesday to see who has been and who hasn't. He believes it's important to impress upon each of them what the postseason is like.

"I just talked about it with each of them," Ayodele said. "We talked about what it takes to make a playoff run. It's intense. It's faster. And every play is critical. I want to relay that to everybody."

AN EXPERIENCED QB

That type of communication should certainly assist this week. It should help close the gap between the players who have been there and those who don't know what to expect.

The Dolphins, though, can be thankful about one thing: They have a quarterback in Chad Pennington who has been to the postseason. And they have a few players, such as Torbor and Porter, who have even started for Super Bowl champions.

Without players like those, the blindness of entering Sunday's game without that experience could put these players in a position to get a rude awakening.

Porter hopes to keep that from happening.

'THAT NEXT LEVEL'

"There's another gear that guys don't even know they have," Porter said. "But when you're facing elimination, you need to be ready to play at that next level. If you don't win, you go home. The game will speed up."

But those same players said this is something that you simply can't understand until you feel it. The energy. The intensity.

And the mentality that every play, every moment has the potential to change a life forever.

So what is the most important lesson for every player to understand -- whether new, old, experienced or not?

"We're here now," Porter said. "Let's just make the best of it."

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