INDIANAPOLIS – Halftime of Sunday's contest between the Colts and Titans will last a minute longer than normal.
It's going to take a 13-minute intermission for the Colts to try and properly honor a team that delivered the first Lombardi Trophy to the city of Indianapolis.
The year was 2006.
-Andrew Luck was at Stratford High School in Houston.
-D'Qwell Jackson was an NFL rookie for the Cleveland Browns.
-Pat McAfee was a sophomore at West Virginia University.
Those three didn't know their future professional football careers would come together in Indianapolis but, a decade later, they are here.
And on Sunday, they will watch the 2006 Colts be honored in the 10-year anniversary of Super Bowl XLI.
Here are their thoughts on watching the '06 Colts (from afar):
Luck: "I remember watching the game. I think (the reunion) is great. This building obviously has an incredible history. I think it is great for the fans and great for those guys, Reg (Reggie Wayne) and I guess Vinny (Adam Vinatieri) and Rob (Robert Mathis) played on that team. Cool…and we would like to be that team 10 years from now."Jackson:"When you talk about the Colts, and (2006) was my first (NFL) year, you knew that team was going to score a ton of points. I believe during that playoff run, you always talked about the defense. Obviously, their offense with Peyton Manning and everything, they had to bring to the table, but that defense played extremely well throughout that playoffs. I remember the game was down in Miami they were playing the Bears, it was raining, it was a game that you would think would be at a disadvantage for the Colts, but they were able to pull it out. You remember a ton of Hall of Fame players on that team, just a great team in general. Just to see those guys come back should give us some extra juice going into the game knowing that we want to make sure we win the game for those guys and make sure we welcome them the right way."
McAfee:"We're talking about a group of guys who are celebrating a moment that is so difficult to achieve and whenever you're talking about a reunion, guys are going to come back to the old days and the locker room stories. I can't wait to chit chat with them on Saturday night hopefully before we get to the hotel and I'm just so excited to see them….When Peyton played back here that first time, that Sunday Night Football game when he was with Denver and the crowd gave him the well-deserved ovation. I think it's going to be very similar to that. Peyton was the face of awesome here, right? He's the guy who's credited for winning the Super Bowl, and building Lucas Oil Stadium and making Indiana a football place, but there were a lot of great dudes around him helping and I think Lucas Oil stadium will be lit whenever those dudes walk out there and show appreciation. I know I'll be clapping and I know the rest of the stadium will be doing the same."
