Colts “humble and hungry” entering 2016 season

Every year, it seems the Colts have a t-shirt that they wear in training camp that denotes their motto for the upcoming season, and head coach Chuck Pagano and general manager Ryan Grigson wear the matching shirts.

This year, that motto is “humble and hungry,” and Pagano and Grigson were indeed both wearing the shirt. On the front, it was the Colts’ logo with the letters “BTM” (for Building the Monster) inside of it. On the back? The phrase “humble & hungry.”

The meaning of the shirts is obvious and hard to miss: it harkens back to the team’s disastrous season in 2015. That season humbled the Colts as they went 8-8 despite Super Bowl expectations, but it also left them hungry for success.

To be honest, that’s not a bad philosophy to have. The Colts aren’t getting too over-confident in their abilities (as Luke Skywalker said, “your overconfidence is your weakness”), but they also have a chip on their shoulder. It’s hard not to notice that edge when talking with players at training camp, as they all are anxious to win games and they’re hungry for success.

We can probably file this away under the “Pagano-isms” category and group it among the cliches, but this year’s theme actually makes sense for this team. They’ve been humbled and so they’re aiming to remain that way and not let success, hype, or anything else get to their head. They’re also hungry to get back to the playoffs and have success - talking with Andrew Luck yesterday, we asked if the goal was still to be playing in February and he corrected that it’s to win in February. If they can keep that combination up all season, that should help them out.