PLAYOFF RUN: Yes, postseason football is just flat out different. Start with the speed and then go to the intensity. Offensive coordinator Brian Callahan saw it up close when he was in high school and his father was coaching for the Raiders. Nose tackle DJ Reader has played in nine postseason games for two different teams.
Reader: “Every stand is full, every game you’re going to in the playoffs the stands are going to be rocking, it’s going to be packed. Every regular-season game isn’t like that. It’s a one-game season. You’ve got to leave it all out there. Everything you’ve got for 60 minutes or however long it takes for all these games and I think everybody has that same mindset. You don’t see anybody folding in the playoffs. It’s not going to happen. Everybody is pulling out all the stops doing what they have to do to win.”
Callahan: “I just remember as a 15-year-old kid watching the kickoff team run down on the opening kickoff of the playoffs, and I was like, ‘Oh, wow. That’s way different.’ There’s just another level. Because it’s win or go home and the stakes are that much higher. There’s another level that football hits when you get to the playoffs.
“Guys play faster and they play harder than they normally play. It’s just because of the situation. It’s win or go home. There’s another level of football that gets amped up when you get to the playoffs. It’s the best. There’s nothing like it. I think there is a different level of physicality.”
BACK-TO-BACK: Callahan says the Bengals held out some things last Sunday knowing that they were going to play the Ravens this Sunday. Not a major deal, but enough.
“We probably would call things maybe a little bit differently if we were really trying to go ice the game,” Callahan said. “It’s just the nature of having to play the same team twice in a seven-day span. I don’t want to take away from their defense, either. They do a good job. Those linebackers are good players. Everybody on their defense played except…
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