Colts WR Alec Pierce on new wrist injury, playing after ankle surgery: I shied away a little bit

INDIANAPOLIS – Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce does not expect to miss any time or be slowed in his return to the offense after suffering what he said postgame was a bruise to his right hand and wrist that sparked a trip to the locker room minutes into Sunday’s 41-23 season-opening loss at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Pierce was held to a 30 to 40 snap count Sunday as he works his way back from late-March ankle surgery that prevented him from practicing until 11 days ago. He left the game early for x-rays on the hand and wrist, he told reporters. Those scans, the Colts receiver said, were negative, and he had the hand and wrist wrapped heavily while playing the remainder of the game.

The bruise, he said, stemmed from Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith‘s helmet. After the game, Pierce had his hand and wrist wrapped in a soft brace. Though he led the Colts with 61 receiving yards on four catches from six targets, Pierce said the protection he played with for the remainder of the game made it tough at times to haul the ball in and notably hindered him on one specific play down the center of the field where he was blanketed in coverage with a corner draped over his back and where he got two hands on the ball but watched it slip away.

<1 / 23

<2 / 23

<3 / 23

<4 / 23

<5 / 23

<6 / 23

<7 / 23

<8 / 23

<9 / 23

<10 / 23

<11 / 23

<12 / 23

<13 / 23

<14 / 23

<15 / 23

<16 / 23

<17 / 23

<18 / 23

<19 / 23

<20 / 23

<21 / 23

<22 / 23

<23 / 23

“It was a little stiff. I’ve got to make that catch, though. I watched myself on the replay and you want to go out and attack the ball,” Pierce said of the drop. “And I think I shied away from it a little bit.

As for his improving health and stamina, Pierce said he only took five team reps on his first day back in practice Sept. 2 and 10 the following day before ramping up to roughly 20 each day the past week.

“I think that’s just part of the sports science (side), and those guys, you can’t just go from not practicing at all straight right into it,” he said. “We have a whole build-up plan in training camp for the healthy players. They know how I’ve been feeling and how I’ve been progressing, and we were really pushing to play Week 1, even if it wasn’t going to be perfect.

“They had a really good plan, and it wasn’t that limited, but definitely I was rotating in and out – much more than I normally would.”

Pierce returned to the field to take individual reps with the team Aug. 27, roughly five months post-surgery, but Colts general manager Chris Ballard told reporters the day before the start of training camp that he expected the team’s top wideout to be absent for the first week or two. Pierce missed all of camp – and then some – and he credited some of that missed time to what he called a “rusty” performance.

“It wasn’t my best. I definitely felt like I needed to knock a little rust off, and that comes with working with (starting quarterback) Daniel Jones and getting more of that timing down, and that was the real bummer with the injury,” Pierce said. “I wanted to be back in August and get some of those reps.

“I’m sad it started like this, because I know I had a couple plays out there that I think I could’ve done a better job and either made a tough play or plays I know that we would’ve made that I just didn’t connect on.”

Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.

Our editors independently choose our recommendations. Some content is produced with paid support from a third party, however our editorial decisions remain independent. If you buy through our links, the USA TODAY Network may earn a commission. Prices and availability may change.