2013 Colts Training Camp Report: Notes From Day Fifteen

I know it may be hard for some of you to believe, but today the Colts held their final practice of 2013 training camp at Anderson University.

Today's practice was short (only about an hour and a half), the interviews after practice were short (everyone wants to get out of here), and this recap will be rather short as well.

Why?  Because there's really not much to report from camp today.  But I'll give you a brief recap anyways, and then a little bit later today I'll have an article up similar to these recaps on what my impressions of camp were.  Also today, I'll take a look at my revised projections for the 53-man roster, tomorrow I'll have a primer for the Giants game and tomorrow I'll also have number 11 in our 13 for '13 series of the 13 most important players for the Colts this year.

For now though, here are a few thoughts from this morning's practice.

• Dwayne Allen didn't have a boot on his foot today.  He seems fine.  Chuck Pagano said he may be in and out of a boot, however.
• Coby Fleener is pretty much ready to go, per Pagano.  He just needs to pass one last test this afternoon, which he is expected to do.
• Reggie Wayne did not practice today.  Chuck Pagano said it was a "30+ day" for rest.  That's what everyone figured, too.
• Matt Hasselbeck spent some time holding for kicks today.  That was the first time that I've seen him do that, and he was the first holder (replaced by Pat McAfee after a few kicks).  Interesting.
• Also, Josh Chapman was playing on the offensive line (left guard) on field goal kicks today.  If he does that in games, it will be really fun to watch.
• Andrew Luck actually threw 20 passes today, which was more than I expected, and he completed 15 of them.  And of course, his first 3 incompletions were all on the fade route.  I just really, really don't like that route.
• Ok, so many people have asked me why I don't like the fade route.  Here's why - it doesn't work often.  I wish I had the numbers on how many fades actually were caught for touchdowns, but I can't imagine it's that high of a percentage.  Especially in camp this year, it was very low.  It takes a very special quarterback with pinpoint accuracy to hit a fade route.  Peyton Manning was a good fade thrower.  Andrew Luck struggles throwing the fade, it seems - and so do the Colts' other two quarterbacks.  And the problem is, the Colts try to run it a lot.  Some media guys remarked this morning that the goal line fade is the play that sets up the field goal, and for this team (and many others), that's true.  I just don't like that play at all, and the Colts seemingly do.
• Adam Vinatieri ended practice by drilling a 51-yard field goal.  Last year's camp ended in the same way on a Pat McAfee field goal, and this year all the players came and lined up behind Vinatieri cheering him on.  It was a 51-yard try, but as Vinatieri tried to tell us coming off the field, it was actually a 72-yarder.  Chuck Pagano after practice said, "thank God he made it."