One thing that the Baltimore Ravens have to watch as they head into the final weeks of the NFL season is the snap count of Michael Pierce. Pierce is a great run defender who also has provided help as a pass rusher for the Ravens. This has taken the defense to a new level.
Baltimore Ravens have to limit how much Michael Pierce plays in the final three games
However, the Ravens have been asking a lot from Pierce this year, as he is on pace to shatter his career-high in snaps. Pierce has 549 snaps played this year, which is 57.4% overall. Considering he sat out of the 2020 season due to COVID concerns and was injured in both 2021 and 2022, he only played 342 snaps in the last three seasons combined.
The career-high in snaps for Pierce is 594, so he is just 45 snaps away from that feat. In that season, he played 54.3% of the snaps, which is fewer than his current rate. The Ravens are trying to do something about that, though. At least they did against Jacksonville.
Michael Pierce played 28 snaps, just 45.2% of the total snaps. That is a season-low for both. He played just 28 snaps against Seattle, but that is because the offense ran so few snaps. This is also just the third game this season that Pierce has played under 50% of the total snaps in a game.
It makes sense to try to limit him and preserve him for the playoffs, especially in a game where the team had a lead and they knew that the Jaguars would lean to the pass. We saw a little bit more Travis Jones this week, which is an added perk. Expect to see this continue over the final three weeks as they get ready for the playoffs.