Tedy Bruschi and Mark Schlereth think too much is going right for the Carolina Panthers and don't see the Arizona Cardinals stopping them. (1:26)

Panthers to get best of Cardinals in postseason again? (1:26)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers outside linebacker Thomas Davis will talk to his teammates at some point before Sunday's NFC title game against Arizona.

His message will be simple.

And personal.

"Take advantage of this opportunity because you never know when it is going to come around again," Davis said.

Ten years ago, as a rookie safety out of Georgia wearing No. 47, Davis was on the cusp of reaching the Super Bowl. All that stood between Carolina and the title game was a trip to Seattle for the NFC Championship Game.

The Panthers lost 34-14.

Thomas Davis, a rookie when the Panthers lost in their last trip to the NFC Championship Game, is the only member of that team still on the roster. Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

"As a rookie you don't understand how hard it is to get to that point," said Davis, the only member of that roster still with the Panthers. "In my mind, I said, 'OK, we made it this far this year; next year we're going to win the Super Bowl.' I fully believed that.

"This is 10 years later, and now we are finally making it back to the NFC Championship Game."

Davis, 32, hasn't played safety since that rookie season. He has four kids, including one named after him who plays football. He has "Davis Sr." on the back of his jersey because of that.

He has successfully returned from three ACL surgeries on the same knee, an NFL first. He finally made the Pro Bowl this season after being overlooked several times.

The biggest thing missing from his résumé is a Super Bowl ring. He has made it clear a 15-1 regular season won't mean a thing if he doesn't get one.

He expected to have a ring already. He knows, at his age, he might not get a better chance than now.

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"The message is all about taking advantage of the opportunity," Davis said. "We have a chance right now in front of our home crowd to punch our ticket to the Super Bowl, but it's not going to happen by chance."

This actually is the third time Davis legitimately believed the Panthers had a chance to win it all. The other time, apart from 2005, came in 2008 when the Panthers finished the regular season with a 12-4 record and earned a first-round bye.

They hosted Arizona in the divisional round and were embarrassed 33-13 at Bank of America Stadium. The Cardinals went on to reach the Super Bowl, losing 27-23 on an amazing catch by the Steelers' Santonio Holmes with 35 seconds left.

"I feel like we let them take our path to the Super Bowl," Davis said of the Cardinals. "You sit back and watch that team, the 2008 team, we were more than capable of going out and doing exactly what Arizona did."

The Panthers went the next four years without a winning season. They went through coaching and general manager changes, resulting in the current tandem of Ron Rivera and Dave Gettleman.

Davis doesn't know why everything fell apart, only that it did.

Again, it's about taking advantage of opportunities.

"It really puts things in perspective," Davis said. "That's one of the messages that I'll definitely be talking about to the guys.

"I'm not saying it's going to take another 10 years for it to happen [again], but who knows? It's important that we take advantage of that opportunity now."