It's almost like Super Bowl was a dirty term Wednesday in the Carolina Panthers' locker room.

For a team on the cusp of advancing to the biggest stage in American sports, the Panthers were quick to shoo away the possibility. That's because their head coach wants his players focused on one thing — Sunday night's date with the Cardinals — a game that just so happens to be for the NFC Championship.

"It wouldn't do me any good to talk about the next game if we don't get there," Ron Rivera said. "We understand this game is a big game. We understand this is an opportunity for us to move forward, but we've got to win, first."

Rivera has done a remarkable job this season getting his guys to buy into the 'one game at a time' mentality. The Panthers chugged through 14 straight wins while ignoring outside noise. It's clear Rivera's tasked them to keep those blinders on this week.

"I don’t even see the Super Bowl right now," tight end Ed Dickson said. "I see the Arizona Cardinals coming in our house to play us."

Added safety Kurt Coleman, "The outside of it looks big, but really, it’s just a football game."

It's not, of course, which showed in a sequence of comments from Cam Newton.

First, the quarterback claimed:

"It’s just a football game. The only thing that’s changed is probably the media. We could have this game in the parking lot. We could have this game on the practice field. It’s nothing different."

Then, less than five minutes later:

"I used to dream of being in this type of position," Newton admitted. "This is why you play football games.

"I idolized the quarterbacks who would be in these positions and just dream, man, I hope and pray that I get the opportunity to do it."

With his dream now reality, you can't blame Newton for coloring slightly outside the company line. As much as guys will try to downplay the significance of this week, this next game is the biggest ever for most.

For his part, Rivera seemingly went out of his way Wednesday to avoid even saying Super Bowl. It may be a mental game that's nearly impossible to win, but that doesn't make it a faulty strategy.

"We don’t even like people talking about the Super Bowl. We’re not there yet," safety Tre Boston said. "We’re in the Championship. If we’re not talking Championship, our locker room doesn’t want to talk.

"We know what’s ahead of us. We know what we have to go through to get what we want. When we win, next week, we’ll talk about the Super Bowl. But now we’re focused on the Championship."