Some may consider the road to the next Super Bowl as beginning the day after a team is eliminated from the current chase; me personally, I don’t think a team can conceivably start towards another goal without putting the failure to reach another one behind them first. Basically, you need down time; time to recover. That’s what teams have been getting up till now.
Minicamp begins for most of the NFL’s teams today, including the Indianapolis Colts (Arizona, Carolina, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Green Bay, Kansas City, Miami, Minnesota, New England, the New York Giants and Jets, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa Bay and Tennessee). Time for teams to start seeing where some of the new blood fits in, if the old blood needs to go, how much guys have forgotten, and just how intense that drive to win is.
For Indianapolis it will likely be to see if there is anyone out there that can help bring a championship caliber team to the big dance in Dallas. For a team that has had the success it has had over the last decade it is easy to say that there is not much wrong with the club, that much is for certain. However, for a team to go down in history with legendary status like the Colts have the potential for being, it will need to find that one or two needles in the haystack.
Many teams throughout the history of the NFL have been good; lots of clubs have had tremendous success in the regular season. Indianapolis has been that team for the last decade; good, but not good enough to make the big dance. Yes, I know that they have made it twice, winning once, which is more than most teams can say. However, with the talent, ability, coaching, and front office that the Colts have their is no reason that they be satisfied with only being good.
So good luck this weekend Colts prospects! Who knows, maybe Tim Hiller, Javarris Mike Newton, Vuna Tuihalamaka, or Andrew Tyshovnytsky could be that piece the team has been searching for!