Insider: Banged up all season, Colts cornerback Pierre Desir keeps finding a way to play

INDIANAPOLIS — Pierre Desir has battled this season, spending most of his time fighting to get in good enough shape to play on Sunday.

He hasn’t been close to fully healthy since the middle of the Titans game.

A bone bruise in his knee knocked Desir out of that game, and he’s been battling ever since. The knee was followed by a hamstring, an injury that nearly kept him out of the Raiders game and Sunday’s monumental win over the Texans. Even the pinkie finger on his left hand has been a problem; Desir slipped a splint on it in the locker room after the win.

But despite all of that, despite the fact that he didn’t practice at all last week, Desir has found a way to play in every Colts game this season, fighting his way onto the field for a secondary that has been banged up at cornerback and safety in the first month and a half of the season.

“He’s a warrior,” Colts safety George Odum said. “I promise you.”

Desir’s the first to say he’s not alone in playing through pain, not even at his own position.

Kenny Moore battled his way back into the Kansas City win after suffering a knee injury serious enough that it kept him out of action two weeks later against the Texans, and rookie Rock Ya-Sin has fought through his own nagging injuries. Nobody’s fully healthy after the first day of training camp, the old NFL cliché goes, and it’s a cliché because it’s true.

Desir still deserves credit for the way he’s gutted it out to get on the field each week.

“The way he plays,” Colts safety Khari Willis said, “you can’t tell he’s banged up at all.”

Desir’s hamstring was so iffy last week that he spent most of the week thinking he had a coin flip’s chance of playing. Heads, he’d have to sit; tails, he’d line up against DeAndre Hopkins.

Making matters worse, he wasn’t able to practice. In Frank Reich’s short tenure as Colts coach, only one player — wideout T.Y. Hilton — has played in a game without practicing that week, and although defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus has coached players who’d pulled off the feat at other stops, it hadn’t happened in Indianapolis.

“Typically, it’s a guy that’s played longer than Pierre,” defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus said. “It’s nice, because he’s played against that crew before, and I think he has some familiarity with those guys.”

The Colts needed Desir badly against Houston.

Desir broke out as a starter in Indianapolis and earned a three-year, $22.5 million contract this offseason, in part because of the way he’d played against Hopkins, the Texans’ All-Pro receiver, in two critical games at the end of last season.

Eberflus wanted to use Desir extensively on Hopkins again.

The problem was he couldn’t be sure if his long, lanky veteran cornerback would be available or not. For Eberflus, this is part of the job; injuries and the size of NFL rosters force a coordinator to build contingencies into every game plan.

But that doesn’t mean it’s an easy task.

“Extremely hard,” Eberflus said. “We’re trying to work on matchups, we’re trying to figure out coverage-wise what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it, so you have to have several options.”

Desir kept working, trying to get to the point where he wouldn’t be a liability on the field.

He’d already been here before this season. Before the Oakland game, Desir was on such shaky ground that he didn’t start or play his normal amount of snaps, only rotating into the lineup in place of Quincy Wilson as the team’s third cornerback after a rough start from Wilson on the outside.

The pain is far from the only factor. An injury to the hamstring can limit a player’s speed, his ability to change direction. If Desir couldn’t make those moves at or close to his normal level of speed and quickness, he could have been a liability for the Colts on Sunday.

“You can get exposed,” Desir said.

Desir did not practice Friday, but after he went through a workout with the trainers, he felt confident enough to tell the coaches he’d be good to go, even though Indianapolis had called him a game-time decision.

“With any injury, there are certain movements that may restrict you more than others,” Desir said. “You just have to make sure you put yourself in the best position, and we do that with certain plays we call, certain techniques we use in certain positions, and that’s definitely helped me.”

Desir drew the same assignment he’d aced last season, spending much of his day lined up against Hopkins, sometimes even following the Texans star into the slot.

“We tried to switch it up,” Desir said. “We knew he was going to get the ball, especially with (Will) Fuller being out.”

Desir wasn’t as effective as he was in those two games last season. Hopkins caught nine passes for 106 yards and a touchdown Sunday, putting up more production than the nine passes and 73 yards he’d produced combined against Desir last season.

But Desir got in a few key licks of his own, showing up when the Colts needed him most. Desir ended one Texans drive in the fourth quarter by picking off Deshaun Watson out of a zone coverage, and he batted away a slant to Hopkins to start another key drive with the Texans backed up, setting the stage for a key three-and-out.

Desir ended up playing all 65 of the Colts’ defensive snaps, making seven tackles and playing a key role for an Indianapolis defense that held up well against Watson, a quarterback who was being tossed around as an MVP candidate.

“He played outstanding,” Eberflus said.  

Even though he’s been playing at less than 100 percent.