In a moment of reflection before Sunday's momentous occasion, his first playoff game in seven injury-scarred seasons as a Cowboy, Sean Lee cites several factors that finally got him here.
Countless hours of rehab. Perseverance. The training regimen implemented by the Cowboys' medical and coaching staffs. Lee's 2015 switch from middle linebacker to weakside linebacker.
"And I think I've had a little bit of luck," he says.
Then there was the epiphany, from the pivotal phone call about which the public never knew. It was a heart-to-heart. Linebacker-to-linebacker.
The caller was Cowboys great Lee Roy Jordan.