"But first, are you experienced? And have you ever been experienced?" -- Jimi Hendrix, Are You Experienced?
It's an age-old question, one that can be asked about a lot of different subjects. But when it comes to playoff experience in the NFL, it's something that can't be overstated.
You either have it or you don't. And the teams that don't, especially at the quarterback position, often find themselves sitting at home watching the Super Bowl on television.
Playoff experience, especially at the quarterback position, could be something that helps the Steelers (13-3) make a deep run into this postseason. The Steelers are off this week, having earned a first-round bye and the No. 2 seed in the AFC, and they won't play until Jan. 14.
I asked Ben Roethlisberger, who has 20 career playoff starts under his belt and a 13-7 record in postseason games, how much that experience matters.
"A lot," he told me. "The speed picks up a little bit, intensity, mistakes are magnified, so being there before helps."
Of the 12 teams in this postseason, which kicks off play on Saturday, seven have quarterbacks who have made at least one postseason start. Two others, Buffalo's Tyrod Taylor and Minnesota's Case Keenum, have been with other teams that made the postseason. But neither appeared in any of those games.
And it's not just the guys playing quarterback who matter. A lack of playoff experience can show up at other positions, as well.
"Being in the game for four years now and being in the playoffs every year now, I can look at a player and see, are they ready for this or not?" Steelers defensive end Stephon Tuitt said. "You can get a feeling off of that.
"You're just so nervous and full of energy for that first game."
The Steelers have just nine players on their 53-man roster who do not have NFL postseason experience. By comparison, third-seeded Jacksonville, a potential opponent for the Steelers next week if the Jaguars can get past Buffalo, barely has nine players with playoff experience on their roster.
Those teams will get their first taste of playoff football this weekend. But will that one week be enough to calm the nerves and prepare them for the win-or-go-home reality of the NFL's postseason?
That will certainly be the question for Jacksonville's Blake Bortles and Tennessee's Marcus Mariota in the AFC, and the Rams' Jared Goff in the NFC. This will be the first time they have even seen a playoff game from a sideline, let alone being on the field.
That could help be a deciding factor in who moves on and who doesn't in this postseason. And those first-game jitters to which Tuitt referred can extend beyond just that first game.
Don't think so? Consider that in Roethlisberger's first playoff run in 2004, he looked pedestrian at best as the Steelers went 1-1.
The win came by a 20-17 count against the Jets in a divisional game in which Roethlisberger completed 17 of 30 passes for 182 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. But it took a 43-yard missed field goal by Doug Brien at the end of regulation for Roethlisberger and the Steelers to win in overtime.
The next week against New England, Roethlisberger was still shaky and completed 14 of 24 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns, but also had three interceptions in a 41-27 loss in the AFC championship.
"It has been a while and being your rookie year, everything is such a whirlwind," Roethlisberger admitted.
Roethlisberger isn't the only young quarterback to struggle in his first trip into the postseason. New England's Tom Brady, considered the greatest playoff quarterback in NFL history, wasn't exactly 'Tom Terrific' in his first postseason trip.
Brady, who owns an NFL-record 25-9 postseason record and has led the Patriots to five Super Bowl wins, completed 32 of 52 passes in his first playoff start against Oakland in the 2001 postseason. He threw for 312 yards but no touchdowns and was intercepted in a game New England won, 16-13, only because of the now-infamous 'Tuck Rule.'
The following week, in a 24-17 upset win at Pittsburgh in the AFC title game, Brady was knocked out of the game in the first half and the Patriots blocked a field goal that was returned for a touchdown and also returned a punt for a score in the victory.
Finally, in the Super Bowl against the Rams, Brady's numbers were mediocre, to say the least, despite New England winning, 20-17, as he completed 16 of 27 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown.
Brady and Roethlisberger have, by far, the most playoff experience in this year's NFL playoff field, having appeared in 54 combined postseason games and having won seven combined Super Bowls. The only other quarterback in this year's field with 10 or more postseason starts is another future Hall of Fame player, Drew Brees of New Orleans, who also owns a Super Bowl win.
Atlanta's Matt Ryan (eight starts, a 3-5 record) and Carolina's Cam Newton (six starts, 3-3) also have had significant, albeit spotty, success in the postseason, taking their respective teams to the Super Bowl. Kansas City's Alex Smith is the only other quarterback in this field with more than one start, though his 2-4 career playoff record is hardly sparkling.
Roethlisberger hopes his team's playoff experience can help pay off with a trip to the Super Bowl, though the Steelers and Patriots, the top two seeds in the AFC and the two teams with the most overall playoff experience, could meet before either gets to that point.
"I hope that some of the young guys will be benefited by being on a veteran team," Roethlisberger said. "I consider us a veteran team now. So, having guys that have been there before to talk, to lead the way by example, definitely helped me."