Cincinnati Bengals running back Jeremy Hill is only in his second season with the team but already feels a sense of urgency to win now.
The playoffs are nice, but Hill thinks complacency will never lead to actual team success.
"It's been four years in a row, and if it doesn't happen this year, then it's probably never going to happen," Hill said, according to Coley Harvey of ESPN. "That's the mentality and the sense of urgency that we bring in every day. Something has to change."
"It's now or never," Hill added.
First-round playoffs exits have been commonplace in Cincinnati, with four straight, and five of the last six, seasons ending that way. The Bengals locker room is decidedly, according to Hill, on the same page about an attitude adjustment and what kind of sacrifices will need to take place.
"Getting to the playoffs every year, that's cool and all, but we want to get to the next level ... The sense of urgency needs to pick up and just the get-up and the want-to to do it. Everyone has that mentality right now and that's going to definitely help us going into the season."
It's not usually the kind of dire straits attitude expected of rookies and second year players, but Hill has seen enough frustration around the city and within the organization to know a change needs to take place.
"For me, it's just a burden that we really need to get lifted from this city, from this team, from this ownership, from this coaching staff and for Coach (Marvin) Lewis," Hill said. "It's something that everyone in this locker room really wants to do, it's just about us going out there and doing it. We can talk about it every day. We can say this and say that, but at the end of the day, we've just got to go out there and get it done."