The Sports Xchange

INDIANAPOLIS — Since 2007, the Indianapolis Colts have managed only one 1,000-yard rusher, Joseph Addai.

Veteran running back Frank Gore, who signed with the Colts in March after setting the career record with the San Francisco 49ers, rushed for at least 1,000 yards seven times over that same period.

But now he is on a team that last year threw the football on 61.4 percent of its offensive snaps, fifth highest in the league.

So, Gore understands what his role will be in the Colts’ offense this fall.

“Run, block, catch — I’m here to do whatever it takes,” the former 49er said this week during the Colts’ minicamp. “If it’s there and we have to throw the ball, I’m with it. We have great guys (at receiver).”

There is the perception that the 32-year-old Gore may be on the back side of his NFL career. But he believes he has a lot of gas left in his tank and is out to prove it in 2015.

“I train hard,” he said. “I like to train with younger guys, just to keep myself honest. If I’m training with younger guys and I’m looking better than them, I know I should have a great shot to have a great year. I just keep training hard and working hard in practice.”

Former Houston wide receiver Andre Johnson was a college teammate of Gore at Miami and has not been surprised by Gore’s work ethic this offseason.

“If you were to train with him and watch him work, the guy works his butt off,” Johnson said.

–Meanwhile, quarterback Andrew Luck understands the areas where he needs to improve heading into the 2015 season.

“That touchdown-to-interception ratio, I think, is very important,” he said. “Cutting down on turnovers, I think, is my No. 1 goal for myself as a quarterback going into next season — besides the obvious: winning a Super Bowl.”

Luck’s competitive nature, his desire to make a play even though he should either take a sack or throw the ball away, has come back to haunt him over the past three seasons. Be it a fumble by holding onto the ball too long or throwing a pass into tight coverage, he has paid the price too often.

“I think I’ve gotten better with that in especially understanding the situations that we’re in in the game,” he said. “Whether it’s, ‘Hey, this is a time where it’s OK to force the ball,’ or, ‘No, hey, let’s take a sack. Let’s let the best punter in football go out there and punt the ball. Or throw the ball away. Let’s live to play another down.'”

–Coach Chuck Pagano said the Colts are way ahead of where they were the past three offseasons. Luck agreed.

“I think this is going into Year 3 with coach Pep (Hamilton) as the coordinator, so certainly the guys that have been here have a better understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish,” he said. “It allows for us to speed up that install process during the offseason and get working on maybe very, very specific things of the offense.”

–The Colts had a late afternoon open practice at Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesday. It was the only opportunity for the team’s fans to see Indianapolis work out before the Colts head to Anderson University for the start of training camp on Aug. 1.

“Our players love it; the coaches love it,” Pagano said. “It’s a chance for a lot of our families to get down there and get around the team. It’s great for the fans. Any time you can change the venue up a little bit and get on a bus and head down to the stadium, under the lights, so to speak, whatever, it’s always a good thing.”

Indianapolis will wrap up the team’s three-day mandatory minicamp Thursday morning. Pagano has been pleased with the progress of the Colts’ new players, particularly the rookies.

“We’ve had a really good offseason,” he said. “We’ve had seven great weeks (of conditioning, OTAs and minicamp), and I want to finish with eight great weeks. We want to walk out of here with a great taste in our mouth and not worry about the expectations, not worry about the future.”