Down 34-20 in the fourth quarter, it began to feel like the Jacksonville Jaguars were about to close the Indianapolis Colts out at that point. However, as he’s done all season, Alec Pierce provided the offense with a massive spark.
Following a Jacksonville touchdown to put them up 34-20, Joe Flacco began the next drive with a 24 yard pass to Alec Pierce. Then on the very next play, the two connected for a 45 yard gain that put the Colts at the Jacksonville one-yard line. Trey Sermon would score on the next play.
Now down a touchdown, the Colts’ defense forced a three-and-out, giving the ball back to the offense. Following a 17-yard run by Sermon on the first play, Flacco again found Pierce for what ended up as a 65-yard catch and run touchdown to tie the game for the time being.
Pierce finished the game with only three receptions–all of which came on those two drives–for 134 yards and a score.
One of the head-scratching aspects of this game was that it took until those final five or so minutes in the fourth quarter with the Colts trailing by two touchdowns for them to push the ball downfield. For much of the game against a Jaguars’ secondary that ranked 30th in yards per pass attempt allowed coming into this game, it was a conservative approach for the Colts’ passing game.
Pierce came into this game as one of the more productive downfield targets in football this season with 234 receiving yards on just 10 receptions. That’s an average of 23.4 yards per catch.
Regardless of what the game-plan is, Pierce needs be targeted downfield a few times on a weekly basis.