FOXBOROUGH – There are hundreds, if not thousands and thousands of people that have far more playoff experience than I do from a fan perspective.

The 2005 Wild Card win against Jacksonville, the 2011 and 2012 AFC Championships. That’s it. That’s all I’ve got. Sure, I went to dozens of games between the old Foxborough Stadium and Gillette Stadium, but playoff crowds are a different animal.

I know what those nights looked and felt like inside Gillette Stadium. Saturday night’s win over the Chargers was my fourth playoff game – first as a member of the media – and I can almost guarantee that it looked and sounded like it did for the majority of the biggest nights in the history of The Razor.

The first roar of the night came when the Eagles lost to San Francisco, with the 49ers’ go-ahead score showing on the giant scoreboard while the Pats and LA warmed up pregame.

With about 13 minutes until kickoff, I had to go outside on the ramp opposite the lighthouse (to the left of the other scoreboard) top see, hear and feel pregame intros.

Then, with the stadium basically full as the lights dimmed and the impressive Patriots production began to do its thing, a low rumble was building.

By the time Vince Wilfork was shown on the videoboard as The Keeper of the Light, fans clamoring for the old school playoff atmosphere let it all out, shaking Gillette with an ovation for Big Vince.

A different ‘playoff version’ of the pregame video narrated by Julian Edelman began and the team was shown walking out of the locker room towards the giant inflatable helmet as flames shot upward. The team filled the tunnel shortly thereafter following the flags and Pat Patriot as fireworks flew into the air around the top of Gillette.

The stadium shook again.

One by one, offensive player introductions followed, Will Campbell, Stefon Diggs and Drake Maye drew the loudest ovations, with Diggs’ and Maye’s once again making Gillette deafening.

The game played out the way it played out for the next three hours, with sing-alongs to ‘Your Love,’ ‘Livin on a Prayer’ and ‘All The Small Things’ bringing back memories of the glory days as New England drew closer to an improbable Super Bowl berth.

Mike Vrabel played during a lot of those initial special nights at Gillete. Now, as the head coach, I asked him Monday what he thought of the atmosphere on Sunday night.

“Well, I thought it was amazing.” he said. “I think it starts with our willingness to play to a style that our fans appreciate. We’ve talked about that since as long as I can remember, that if we play to a certain style, they’ll embrace that and they’ll cheer for us. I think that what we do here from the stadium perspective, the introductions and the fireworks, I mean, that’s all part of it. We’re in the entertainment business, and we have to provide things for people to get excited about.

“So, I appreciate the way that our fans have been here, and I appreciate the way that they’ve traveled, and I can’t say enough about them.”

Kicker Andy Borregales played a huge role in the win. He was asked about his first playoff experience on Monday too.

“The crowd was electric,” he said. “It was so loud at some points of the game. I mean, a lot of the game was just loud. It definitely showed in our performance, because we feed off the crowd and hopefully, the crowd feeds off of us. It’s like a two-way street.”

Anfernee Jennings has earned himself a comfortable home here with Mike Vrabel after some rocky first few seasons in New England. He’s one of many who appreciated what it sounded like from 8-11 Sunday night.

“It was electric. It was definitely a playoff environment,” said Jennings. “It was exciting. Looking forward to being back next week on Sunday, getting another win.”

Garrett Bradbury has been in the league for quite a while now, but Sunday’s victory was just the second playoff win in his career, the first coming in his rookie season. He thoughtfully reflected on just how special and memorable the night was.

“It’s the best I’ve seen it,” he added. “The place was rocking. Coming out, running out of the tunnel for the game, it was the most electric I’ve seen it here. The fans were in it. The stands were full. We just kept saying on the sidelines in the fourth quarter, they’re playing those ACDC songs, like, this is football. This is why you play.

“I was trying to keep those rookies like, in the moment. Like, ‘guys, like, don’t take this for granted, this is sick. Don’t take this for granted. Let’s go out and play some good football with our fans.’ It was a special night. My rookie year was my only playoff win I had. Veteran linebacker, running off the field he’s like ‘you don’t understand how big of a deal this is.’ I didn’t. I was a rookie, you just came in the league and you win, great. I haven’t won a playoff game since then. So, now I’m the veteran relaying to these guys like, ‘listen, you don’t know what we just did. Let’s keep it going. Let’s get another one.’ It’s just a big deal. It’s like, you don’t want to look ahead.

“You want to smell the roses, but you’re not satisfied. It’s like all these different kind of things But, at the same time, I think you can appreciate what you’re doing and where you’re at, but to still be a little hungry for more.”

The Patriots fan base is certainly hungry for one (hopefully two more) home atmospheres like the one Sunday night.