As I wrote in the Week One thread, Pierce was the victim of a headhunting DB on his second target after dropping his first target in the endzone, and as a result he now has a concussion:
Alec Pierce
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Carolina Speed
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Thanks for that Don. Was at the Panther game Sunday. I didn't look through all the week 1 posts, obviously.
white lightning
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I didn't see the game but did they at least flag the defensive player? It not it wouldn't suprise me. We have seen this type of thing
way too many times from players wih a certain melanin type.
Understood. It was a rough first game for Alec, but I'm not the least bit concerned. From everything I've read the Colts have been very high on him all through training camp and he can only have better games from here. I try to not draw conclusions from a single game, especially the first game of the season and even more so when it involves a rookie. Pittman is going to be the main target on the Colts this season, and Parris Campbell (if he actually stays healthy for once) and Nyheim Hines will also be involved, among others. If Pierce gets 600 or 700 receiving yards his first season that will be a fine result, and anything more than that is just gravy.
After having no receptions in the Colts' first two games, Alec Pierce has gone 3/61, 4/80 and 8/81 in Weeks 3, 4 and 5. That's 15/222, which is well over 1,000 yards if extrapolated over a full season. And that's while playing just 45%, 44% and 59% of the snaps during those same three games. So he's now off to a very good start in his rookie season.
It's also a positive that Matt Ryan kept looking to Pierce last night on short routes as he rarely had time to look downfield, so Alec was definitely his go-to target in the game instead of Michael Pittman, who was supposed to be the team's target hog, or the bum Parris Campbell.
On the negative side, the Colts' heralded o-line is unexpectedly struggling. They need to improve if Pierce is to develop into a potent downfield weapon this season as Ryan is no scrambler esp. at this stage of his career.
It's also a positive that Matt Ryan kept looking to Pierce last night on short routes as he rarely had time to look downfield, so Alec was definitely his go-to target in the game instead of Michael Pittman, who was supposed to be the team's target hog, or the bum Parris Campbell.
On the negative side, the Colts' heralded o-line is unexpectedly struggling. They need to improve if Pierce is to develop into a potent downfield weapon this season as Ryan is no scrambler esp. at this stage of his career.
Pierce finished his rookie season with 41 catches for 593 yards and 2 TDs, averaging 14.5 yards per catch which is good for today's dink and dunk NFL. All in all he had a pretty good rookie year considering the disaster that was the Colts offense. Of course we'd love to see him take the next step and become a thousand yard receiver in '23.
Leonardfan
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Colts new head coach comes from the Eagles. Pierce has that working against him too. He had a very solid rookie year all things considered.
white lightning
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Pierce is very similar to Jordy Nelson. We can only hope he devolops into that level of star for Indy. They will have to believe in him
and move him up the depth chart. He needs to be out there as much as possible as with his talent the numbers will come!
white lightning
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Alec Pierce's foot injury is 'nothing serious'
Shane Steichen downplayed Alec Pierce’s foot injury.
coltswire.usatoday.com
Colts WR Alec Pierce is in for a monster sophomore season
If you're rooting for Anthony Richardson to fail and he does, that means Alec Pierce does also. I want to see Pierce become as big a star as Jordy Nelson was. There's going to continue to be an influx of Black QBs into the league, some will succeed and many will not, but as of now Alec Pierce is the only White outside starting receiver. We need him to shine.
The connections between rookie Anthony Richardson and Alec Pierce has been evident throughout Colts training camp. The duo has connected on nearly all of the team's biggest plays so far. And during the team's preseason opener, they attempted to do so in live game action, but unfortunately, the highlight reel play ended up an incompletion.
While this attempt wasn't completed, it is the single play that best represents the strengths of both Richardson and Pierce. And the joint practices with the Bears will offer the Colts two days to see if this training camp connection will be able to flourish beyond training camp on the NFL stage.
What To Watch For: Colts & Bears Joint Practices
Anthony Richardson and Alec Pierce's Deep Ball Connection Vs A Live Opponent
The connections between rookie Anthony Richardson and Alec Pierce has been evident throughout Colts training camp. The duo has connected on nearly all of the team's biggest plays so far. And during the team's preseason opener, they attempted to do so in live game action, but unfortunately, the highlight reel play ended up an incompletion.
While this attempt wasn't completed, it is the single play that best represents the strengths of both Richardson and Pierce. And the joint practices with the Bears will offer the Colts two days to see if this training camp connection will be able to flourish beyond training camp on the NFL stage.
Leonardfan
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I certainly hope Pierce is effective this year. I've seen this movie enough times to know that it will be Pierce and not Richardson that draws the ire of Colts DWFdanom if/when Richardson struggles though. I don't think Pierce will get a large number of catchable balls thrown his way with Richardson at the helm even if he does get a fair share of targets.
Yes. It's a bit of a short term catch 22 but, ultimately I am rooting for Richardson to fail and fail big. I want Pierce to succeed and feel that a backup, Minshew perhaps could form a connection with Pierce..
Richardson has the media working OT to protect the narrative around him.
Evidently the terms "uneven performance" and "flashes of greatness" are now being used to protect upside affletes...
Anthony Richardson has uneven performance in Colts' 27-13 preseason win over Eagles
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Indianapolis rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson displayed flashes of promise but also showed that there’s much work to do, helping the Colts beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-13 on Thursday night in the preseason finale for each team.
apnews.com
jphoss
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Such deceptive framing bc when he inevitably flames out it will be blamed on the coach who “couldn’t develop him”Richardson has the media working OT to protect the narrative around him.
Evidently the terms "uneven performance" and "flashes of greatness" are now being used to protect upside affletes...
Anthony Richardson has uneven performance in Colts' 27-13 preseason win over Eagles
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Indianapolis rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson displayed flashes of promise but also showed that there’s much work to do, helping the Colts beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-13 on Thursday night in the preseason finale for each team.
footballenthusiast
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This is an interesting phenomenon that has been observed over the years: the black QB using a white receiver as a safety blanket. It's mostly associated with tight ends, but it also happens with wideouts too. The Jackson-Andrews connection is probably the foremost modern example of the former. Examples of the latter are hard to come by because of the discrimination against our guys at the position, but I can think of a few. Brian Finneran was one of Michael Vick's go to guys in Atlanta. Matt Jones was of great help to Byron Leftwich and David Garrard on the Jaguars. Going back further, Gary Wellman provided Warren Moon with some sure catches in the Oilers' 1993 playoff loss to Montana's Chiefs. It seems likely that Richardson and Pierce will join this list.
Phall
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Eric Decker and the timeless Geno Smiff!
Solid post!
TE Greg Olsen and Cam Newton come to mind too. Mahomes & Kelce to an extent.
Cautious optimism on WR Alec Pierce with a Rookie QB that had plenty of erratic passing games at Florida last season.
The knives are starting to come out for Pierce, this article being a prime example: https://www.thebluestable.com/colts/indianapolis-colts-need-more-alec-pierce/
Ominous also are the rumors that the Colts are trying to trade for malcontent Jerry Jeudy, who has been a bust relative to when he was drafted ("he's NFL ready!"), as the Broncos continue to clean house. Hopefully Minshew starts throwing to Pierce more frequently starting tomorrow while he starts for Richardson for several games at least or else Pierce will be proclaimed a bust and a major reason why Richardson isn't reaching his stratospheric "upside."
Ominous also are the rumors that the Colts are trying to trade for malcontent Jerry Jeudy, who has been a bust relative to when he was drafted ("he's NFL ready!"), as the Broncos continue to clean house. Hopefully Minshew starts throwing to Pierce more frequently starting tomorrow while he starts for Richardson for several games at least or else Pierce will be proclaimed a bust and a major reason why Richardson isn't reaching his stratospheric "upside."
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