INDIANAPOLIS – Since joining the NFL in 2005, Josh Cribbs has never seen the football field in January for a meaningful game.

His regular season stats are among the NFL's best.

His postseason numbers are nonexistent.

Cribbs wants that to change.

So when the new Colts "return specialist" walked into the locker for his first practice on Wednesday, he felt different.

"They smell like playoffs. They smell like Super Bowl," Cribbs said of new playing home.

"It's just awesome to be in a locker room with a bunch of guys that just want it as bad as they do."

Like pretty much any elite kick returner, Cribbs talks with a confidence of a true game changer.

The Colts special teams units have been among the league's best in 2014 with the lone piece missing coming via a significant return or two.

On Wednesday, Cribbs was asked what he has left in the tank at the age of 31?

"I've got a lot, and you're going to see it this Sunday," Cribbs answered. "I'm just excited about the people I have to work with. They're excited to have me, and I'm feeding off of their energy to give (Andrew) Luck some good field position. I have the opportunity to help him shine. To be a catalyst like that, I'm just ecstatic."

Cribbs is hoping Luck's stats come down a bit over the final six games of the season.

Of course, the reason for some "smaller" Luck numbers would be a byproduct of Cribbs' return game production.

Colts safety Mike Adams and Cribbs spent five seasons together in Cleveland and had a message for his former teammate.

"I told him, 'Change isn't always bad.' Coming into a great situation as far as the team, just a family atmosphere," Adams said.

"I just wanted to remind him that here is just totally different. We're more family-oriented, we're a tight-knit group. Just to remind him of those things that he wanted to do and we all wanted to do in Cleveland is here."

As Cribbs addressed the media on Wednesday, he did so a few minutes after leaving his first Colts practice.

It was his initial crack at showing the Colts what they are getting in his signing.

After timing up some wedges in the return game, Cribbs sees why the Colts are one of the best special teams units in the NFL.

"Those guys were already awesome, I'm finding myself not having to teach them a lot, little corrections here and there. They're telling me what they see. We're getting on one accord," Cribbs said following practice.

"It's not going to be like the preseason on Sunday. It's going to be like we've been together for years, and that's how it should be."