GLENDALE, AZ --- The Pro Bowl kicks off at eight o'clock eastern time Sunday on ESPN from University of Phoenix Stadium, and if you are looking for reasons to watch your Colts in the NFL's all-star game, here are seven of them:
7. That's the number of Colts playing in this year's Pro Bowl: QB Andrew Luck, WR T.Y. Hilton, LB D'Qwell Jackson, CB Vontae Davis, S Mike Adams, K Adam Vinatieri, and P Pat McAfee. That's tied for 4th most with the Packers. Only the Broncos (11), Eagles (9), and Cowboys (8) have more Pro Bowlers this year.
6. Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown was six-years-old when he became friends with T.Y. Hilton and started playing in the same youth football program in Miami. The Pro Bowl will finally be the first time they get to play on the same team.
5. Five is the number of Colts at the Pro Bowl who will play in the game for the first time. Hilton, Jackson, Davis, Adams, and McAfee are first-time Pro Bowlers.
4. The number of interceptions Vontae Davis had this season, in a breakout year for the Colts shutdown corner. He's excited to play too and preserve his streak of games without allowing a touchdown, even if it is only an exhibition game. D'Qwell Jackson said Saturday to lookout for Davis covering T.Y. Hilton in the 4th quarter of the Pro Bowl. They've been having some friendly trash talk too all week, with the Colt-on-Colt match-up looming.
3. Field goals will still be worth three points, but they'll be tougher to convert in the Pro Bowl, with the goalposts going from 18.6’ wide to 14’ feet wide, as the league again experiments with making kicks more difficult. The guinea pigs will be the two kickers that were in training camp for the Colts: Adam Vinatieri and Eagles kicker Cody Parkey. The goal posts aren't the only rule change either.
2. The number of times Colts safety Mike Adams has gone undrafted now, first coming out of college and again in this year's Pro Bowl draft. Technically, he was 'assigned' to Team Irvin in the Pro Bowl draft. He joked somebody's going to have to pay for this, and he's going to win defensive MVP now in his first Pro Bowl after 11 seasons in the league. The Pro Bowl’s Mr. Irrelevant will be fun to watch.
1 . All Andrew Luck knows is being the #1 pick in drafts. Once out of college and now twice in Pro Bowl drafts. It's been a fun week for him trying to get over the AFC Championship loss (which he's not totally over yet). He even had a fan ask him to sign her child. In the Pro Bowl, I'm sure he'll be targeting T.Y. Hilton a lot, with Jackson, Adams, and Davis potentially staring him down across the line of scrimmage.
