For the first 54 minutes of the Colts' Week 5 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Alec Pierce waited in the wings.
The wide receiver lined up where he should, executed the routes he was supposed to and distracted the Jaguars' secondary as necessary.
But he was never targeted.
Backup quarterback Joe Flacco was at the helm of the Colts' offense – Anthony Richardson (oblique) was ruled out Sunday morning – and came into Sunday's game with a career average of 6.8 yards per pass attempt. Pierce led the league with an average of 23.4 yards per catch through the Colts' first four games of the season; he wasn't always going to be Flacco's primary target. But it was also the Jaguars' defense that kept Pierce from getting involved earlier – the coverage simply didn't allow for many deep throws.
With just over five minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Colts trailed 34-20. Their offense had been stifled time and time again, unable to get more than a couple yards per play. They needed an explosive play to get back into the game, and they needed it right away.
Flacco had no doubts about who he was going to throw the ball to.
"I think he's a hell of a player," Flacco said of Pierce. "I was actually kind of feeling bad, like 'Man, we got to get him involved in this game, we've got to start getting him involved in these games, like how can we do that?' And then boom, he makes an awesome catch on the sideline and then things just start rolling."
Pierce's first catch of the afternoon was a leaping, heart-stopping reception in which the wide receiver jumped in the air, cleared his defender and tipped the football with his left hand so he could then grab it with his right hand as he came back down to earth, landing on his back near the sidelines.
Oh, and the one-handed catch came after Pierce sprinted 24 yards downfield.
"Joe just threw it up, gave me a chance, and I kind of just popped it up in the air to myself," Pierce said, smiling. "Played a little volleyball and made a catch."
Pierce played volleyball in high school, and the wide receiver's vertical has been one of the things that has made it so difficult for opponents to defend him. It's also one of the things the Colts like so much about him. After all, his 41-inch vertical at the 2022 NFL Combine was hard to miss.
"It's huge," head coach Shane Steichen said. "Obviously that catch he made, that vertical jump to get it and catch that ball was huge. He's doing a hell of a job for us."
Pierce's catch put the Colts at Jacksonville's 46-yard line with just under five minutes left in the game. On the following play, Flacco found Pierce once again – this time, 45 yards downfield – and the wide receiver caught the football in stride at the one-yard line. The catch was initially called a touchdown but was reversed following review. Flacco and the rest of the Colts weren't too fazed, though, because Flacco immediately handed the ball off to running back Trey Sermon for a touchdown to make it a one-score game.
"We had a three-play drive, what we thought was a two-play drive, that's exactly what we needed," Flacco said. "That was kind of the drive that obviously kept us in the game."
The Colts took the momentum from the scoring drive and used it to force Jacksonville to go three-and-out, getting the ball back with three minutes and 25 seconds left. It was time for another explosive play. So, it was time for Pierce.
And this time, he got his touchdown.
Flacco launched a pass 31 yards downfield to Pierce, who – with just one defender on him – easily grabbed the ball and dashed 34 yards to the end zone for a touchdown that would tie the game at 34 points apiece. The wide receiver cradled the football in his arms as he crossed into the end zone before celebrating, mimicking kicking a door down.
Three targets, three receptions, 134 yards and a touchdown. All in just a couple of minutes.
"Alec only needs about three passes a game to break a 100," wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. said. "He's just been great. He's always given effort and it shows up, too, because all of a sudden he doesn't get the ball for three and three quarter quarters and then he finishes the game and gives us a chance to win the game. And we fell short. But he put us in position to have a chance."
The Colts would go on to lose to the Jaguars 37-34 as the Jaguars kicked a game-winning field goal with 17 seconds left. But even with the loss, Pierce's performance was an incredibly bright spot for the Colts.
He set a new career high in receiving yards (134), average yards per catch (44.7) and longest reception (65 yards). Sunday also marked the third 100-yard receiving game of his career, and his touchdown set a new career-high of three touchdowns in a season. Pierce continued to prove his reliability and consistency, and has firmly established himself as a deep threat.
After two years of outsiders questioning his abilities and talent, Pierce's start to the 2024 season has been just what he has needed to build his confidence and prove why he belonged in the NFL. And it's what the Colts have known he's been capable of all along.
"I'm just happy for him," linebacker Zaire Franklin said. "All the adversity that he's (faced), all the dirt that was thrown on his name the last couple years about what he wasn't and what he wasn't going to be, and he's proving everybody wrong every week. I just tell him to keep his head down, never forget what they naysayers said even though they telling you (you're) the greatest now, they were just telling you that you was a waste of a pick last week. I'm just proud, just happy for everything he's got going on."
