INDIANAPOLIS – Of the 53 Colts players on the active roster this week, 40 will make their conference championship debut this weekend.

Around the league, 28 teams have started their vacations.

Four teams are still clocking in well before the sun rises and aren't leaving their respective facilities until the sun has already begun to set.

"It's a great feeling that we are one of the final four teams and that all the rest of the teams get to sit at home and watch us play," defensive tackle Ricky Jean Francois, who played in the 2012 Super Bowl with the 49ers, said.

"We should be proud. We should be blessed to know that we are one of the four teams that are left standing. Now we want to turn those four teams into two teams still standing."

With one-and-done football the last two weeks, several of the Colts veterans have risen to the occasion.

Back in 2011, the New York Giants rode the pass catching prowess of one Hakeem Nicks to their Super Bowl victory.

Nicks enters the AFC Championship having caught all five of his targets this postseason, including a key third-quarter touchdown last week in Denver.

"It's just high intensity," Nicks says of this time of year. "Everything gets revved up a couple of notches. You got to be ready to do it as a team and make plays."

Take a look at the Colts injury report, or really any playoff team left for that matter, and you can see what the playoffs mean to players.

Last week, the Colts had all 53 guys on the active roster participate in Thursday's practice (52 of them full participants). That happened just once in the regular season.

On Thursday, the Colts again had all 53 guys practicing (51 of them full participants).

"Most teams would be tired, beat up, but for some reason nobody in this damn locker room is tired, beat up, nothing," Francois said.

"We are 60 minutes away from possibly being AFC Champs and going to the Super Bowl. We are 60 minutes away. If anybody needs any motivation go ahead and look at the clock and see how long 60 minutes takes."

Sunday will mark the third conference championships appearance for Francois.

When the Colts began their journey two weeks ago, hardly any pundit had them in this position.

In the regular season, the Colts struggled against the game's best quarterbacks.

They've rewritten that narrative in January and hope to add the most important chapter this weekend.

"A lot of people kept saying we weren't going to beat playoff-caliber teams, but I've seen we've beat two of them," Francois said.

"Now we're going on to play Tom Brady, another Hall of Fame quarterback. That's a blessing. I get to play against Tom Brady to get to the Super Bowl? What else could you ask for?"