The Seattle Seahawks have endured more performance enhancing drug suspensions than any team in the NFL, and reached a turning point when Bruce Irvin received a ban in the spring.

"It's just a saying. Guys are accountable 24/7," Richard Sherman said. "Guys have to be accountable for their actions. Guys have to always abide by the rules, which we only have three: take care of the team; no whining, no complaining; and be early."

Said Sherman: "Those are the simplest rules ever. But guys have really embraced it this year and really taken care of one another, made sure that we kept one another out of trouble and made good decisions all year long. That's what it came out to. It came out in a meeting earlier in the season with all the nonsense that was going on, and guys really made a point to correct the mistakes that other guys had made and make sure they're accountable for their actions."

Sherman won his appeal for a four-game suspension in 2012.