Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce is on track to play in Week 1 after spending much of the offseason recovering from ankle surgery. Head coach Shane Steichen said Monday that Pierce “should be good to go” against Baltimore after returning to practice late last month. The matchup should serve as an immediate litmus test for whether the Ravens’ pass defense has improved after being repeatedly exposed through the air last season.
Trial by Fire
The Ravens finished 30th in the league in passing yards allowed at 247.9 per game, while Indianapolis ranked ninth offensively at 227.8 passing yards per game. To be fair to Baltimore, its secondary eventually became a revolving door as injuries piled up, including time missed by Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins. Even so, both corners had their own struggles when available. According to Next Gen Stats, Humphrey and Wiggins ranked first and second among NFL defensive backs in passing yards allowed, respectively.
That makes facing Pierce especially dangerous, as the Ravens will have to account for his big-play ability on nearly every passing down. According to PlayerProfiler, Pierce ranked first in air-yards share, second in deep-target share and third in deep targets last season. He turned just 47 receptions into 1,003 yards and six touchdowns, showing how much damage he can create without requiring a high volume of catches.
So are the Ravens simply bound to watch Pierce celebrate big catches while repeatedly taking the top off their defense? Of course not. New head coach Jesse Minter arrives from Los Angeles after coordinating a Chargers defense that allowed the fifth-fewest passing yards in the league. His unit played zone on 80.7% of its snaps and used dime personnel 23.3% of the time, the third-highest rate in the NFL.
The Ravens could crowd the field with defensive backs to counter Pierce’s explosiveness or lean on more Cover 3 and Cover 4 looks to better protect against the deep ball. They cannot become too fixated on Pierce with Jonathan Taylor still one of the league’s premier running backs, but Minter has already shown he can build a defense capable of limiting explosive passing plays. Baltimore will hope that translates immediately.
