INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts today announced that Pierre Desir, their top cornerback, has been upgraded to questionable for Sunday's Week 9 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field.
Desir on Friday was originally labeled as doubtful.
Wide receiver T.Y. Hilton is the only Colts player officially ruled out against the Steelers; safety Malik Hooker and defensive end Justin Houston and Desir are questionable.
Desir has been battling a nagging hamstring injury that he suffered in the Colts' Week 5 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. After the bye week, he did not practice leading up to the team's Week 7 game against the Houston Texans, but was able to play, logging seven tackles and two passes defensed, as well as his first interception of the season, in the Colts' 30-23 victory at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Last week, however, Desir missed Wednesday's practice and was limited Thursday and Friday, but he was ultimately unable to go against the Denver Broncos. He did not practice at all this week leading up to the Steelers game, meanwhile, and was originally labeled as doubtful on Friday by head coach Frank Reich before the team upgraded him to questionable today.
Reich said earlier in the week that the goal is to get Desir as close to 100 percent as possible before returning him to game action.
"He was fighting through it, but we really feel like to do him service and really our team service – even though he is the kind of guy that can do that," Reich said when asked if Desir had the ability to miss practices but still play on gameday. "We still have a long stretch of games to go here. I think the thinking is let's get him to 100 percent so we don't have to worry about it anymore."
If Desir is limited or can't play Sunday, look for Rock Ya-Sin, Marvell Tell III, Quincy Wilson or Shakial Taylor to get added snaps at cornerback opposite the team's other starter, Kenny Moore II.
