Check out Larra Overton & JJ Stankevitz's full interview with Kenny Moore II on this week's episode of the Colts Official Podcast Presented by WynnBet. Download the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts for more from the Pro Bowl Colts cornerback on new defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and how special it was to send his youth football/basketball/baseball coach to Super Bowl LVI.
Colts cornerback Kenny Moore II spent about a week and a half out west earlier this month, and while the trip happened because of his own accomplishments on and off the field, he came away from it motivated to hit the ground running in 2022.
The first thing that hit Moore happened on his first morning in Las Vegas for the 2022 Pro Bowl.
"We were eating breakfast and it was a table full of Colts," Moore said. "And I'm just like, why are we here?"
Moore was joined in Las Vegas by five teammates: Defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, center Ryan Kelly, linebacker Darius Leonard, long snapper Luke Rhodes and running back Jonathan Taylor (left guard Quenton Nelson was named to the Pro Bowl but did not participate). The collection of talent at that table in Las Vegas was impressive – but Moore, and surely everyone else there, wished they were preparing for the Super Bowl, not the Pro Bowl.
And it reinforced the belief that the collection of players in Las Vegas and back home in Indianapolis was good enough to get to the NFL's biggest stage.
"There was another time when we were taking pictures after Saturday's practice — it was the last practice before we go to the game," Moore said. "And we took a group picture and I was just like, dang, we have all this talent."
From Las Vegas, Moore made his way to Los Angeles, where he was honored as the Colts' Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee before and during Super Bowl LVI. Moore said he had a few conversations with other nominees about how they only wanted to go to the Super Bowl if they were playing in the game, but the experience talking with other community pillars – like the Raiders' Darren Waller – was valuable.
Mostly, though, being at SoFi Stadium for the Super Bowl provided even more motivation for Moore to work not only to avoid an end to the season like the Colts had in 2021, but to push even harder to play for a championship next year.
"It's about going out there each Sunday, each game day to put it all on the line for each other," Moore said. "So definitely hoping and working for a championship, because that's what it's all about. If you're not, then what are you even playing this game for? So definitely excited and hungry to get back out there to have better feelings next year."
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