Frank Reich Talks Through Game-Winning TD
The Indianapolis Colts pulled off game-winning touchdown drive against the Jacksonville Jaguars with just 17 seconds left on the clock. They only needed a field goal to win, but quarterback Matt Ryan saw a matchup he liked and threw a 32-yard strike to rookie-receiver Alex Pierce.
Head coach Frank Reich said he gave his veteran quarterback the option to take a shot downfield with the game on the line... a shot he knew Ryan would take.
"I mean, that's all Matt and Alec," said Reich of his players execution. "We, the coaching staff talked about it on the sideline."
"The coaches, we talked it through. And Matt loves that. I mean, like, as soon as I said, ‘Hey, how do you feel?’ ‘Oh, yeah, that's what I wanted.’ And I gave him the option. I said, ‘If Alec is pressed, you can take him on a go-route or you can take him on, like, a quick slant.’ There was never any question it was going to be 'go' the whole time."
Asked if it was an audible at the line based on the coverage, and Reich admitted they had dialed up the play to Pierce to give Ryan an option.
"No, that was the play call," said Reich. "It was a conversion route. It was a route that if it got pressed, converted. So, I mean, it was a perfect throw. And Alec – just hats off to Alec. Like, the release that he had, you know, because it's right in front of our bench, so I'm watching it the whole way. He had so much poise on the release."
"What happens is a lot of times, guys just try and rush the release. And he didn't rush the release. That's what he's been doing well all year."
Ryan had praise for his rookie receiver as well.
"Frank went into the headset and he said, ‘Hey, trust what you see. You can go this or you can go that.’ And I just trusted Alec," said Ryan.
"He's so good on those kind of routes. I think a lot of times in those situations, throwing the ball past the sticks, being aggressive, taking a shot is huge."
"And I thought it was, you know, a great call. Great route. And just tried to give him a chance. And a really good play by him."
Pierce was the first player selected by the Colts in the 2022 NFL Draft. He was taken in the second round and is fifth in the NFL among rookie-wide receivers with 271 yards. He didn't have a catch the first two weeks of the season, so all of his work has come in the last four games.
The Colts offensive line didn't allow a sack on 58 pass attempts on Sunday against the Jaguars. It's no coincidence that Ryan had his best game of the season when he was under the least duress.
The Colts appear to have found a big compliment to Michael Pittman in Pierce and are now sitting in a position to take over first place in the AFC South if they can beat the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
