Falcons need James Pearce Jr.’s fighting spirit
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
None of Matt Ryan’s Falcons teammates confronted Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro after he took a cheap shot at their quarterback during a 2013 game.
That didn’t sit right with team owner Arthur Blank, who vowed the team would be tougher the next season.
Falcons rookie James Pearce Jr. might take on the entire opposing team if any of them make a run at Michael Penix Jr. this season.
The Falcons hadn’t even started practicing in full pads during training camp before Pearce was involved in two training camp scuffles. Pearce’s aggressiveness has irritated offensive linemen, but it’s a needed element for a defensive front that hasn’t put up enough fight during seven consecutive losing seasons.
Falcons coaches are right to say Pearce shouldn’t cross the line. But this team needs guys willing to push right up to the edge of it. You can tell Pearce’s coaches and teammates agree because their admonishments of him for fighting are laced with admiration for the belligerence underlying the act.
“It’s a little bit like, ‘Keep doing that’ but (also) a little bit of, ‘Don’t waste our time’,” Falcons safety Jessie Bates III said. “We’ve got this set time with how many plays we can be out there for. … (The aggression) has just got to be controlled. It can’t be chaotic.
“You can’t (fight) in the game, so why do it out there?”
That’s a good point. Another way to look at is that penalties on the practice field don’t hurt the team. Pearce’s scuffles energized his defensive teammates even as they ticked off the targets of his aggressive play.
Pearce said he’s not trying to be an instigator.
“I just like playing my role,” he said. “I know coming off the edge, it’s a physical game. In the trenches, it’s a little more physical than the back end, so we’ve got to play with some type of passion for it.”
Pearce’s passion has led to pugilism with teammates.
When Pearce tangled with center Ryan Neuzil, defensive lineman Leonard Floyd joined the fray to assist Pearce. That prompted guard Matthew Bergeron to go after Pearce.
“I try to bring him to the side and tell him to cool (himself) down before he gets really crazy with it,” Floyd said of Pearce. “He’s a good guy, man. He comes out and works hard. The (offensive) linemen just don’t like it. When a guy works hard, the linemen don’t like it. That’s a good thing.”
Later during that same practice, Pearce scrapped with offensive tackle Kaleb McGary before ripping off his helmet.
“Tensions are high,” McGary said. “It’s camp. Also, don’t grab my face mask and keep pulling on it for no reason. This takes time. None of us show up knowing everything.”
Pearce surely has a lot to learn.
He took things too far when he pulled off McGary’s helmet. Everything Pearce did before that moment can be viewed as him going hard and not backing down. The Falcons need to help Pearce learn the finer points of being a pro without polishing his edges so much that they tame the hostility in his game.
I believe Pearce will end up on the right side of that line. Too much aggression wasn’t an issue for him at Tennessee.
Per play-by-play data, Pearce was called for four total penalties in 26 games for the Vols over the past two seasons. All of them were for offsides.
That’s impressively clean play considering Pearce’s production. He recorded 17.5 sacks over his final two seasons for the Vols, with 28 tackles for loss. Pearce led the nation in quarterback pressures from 2023-24 while earning the highest pass-rush productivity grade of his class from Pro Football Focus.
Pearce’s strong practice performances during his first week of camp give the Falcons hope that he can immediately contribute as an NFL pass rusher. Defensive line coach Nate Ollie obsessively harps on his charges about their “get-off” times.
Pearce probably is the quickest off the ball after the snap in his position group. He can turn that speed into power by quickly engaging opposing blockers before they can get set.
Pearce shouldn’t start fights. But I like the audacity he demonstrates by being a nuisance, then shrugging off the angry reactions.
“It don’t matter as long as the game is competing in the trenches,” Pearce said. “He’s being physical. I’m being physical. We all are out there trying to get better. That’s all it comes down to, for real.”
Falcons coach Raheem Morris has made a point of creating more competitive practices this summer. I see Pearce’s antagonism as an answer to that call. He’ll likely get his first chance to bother pro opponents when the Falcons play the Lions in an exhibition game Friday.
Morris said only bad teams fight. I’ve seen bad teams filled with fake tough guys, mixing it up. There’s not always a correlation, though.
And the 2013 Falcons were a bad team with players who showed little fight even after Vaccaro’s dirty play.
I’m not saying any of them should have taken a swing at Vaccaro. But as Blank later said, somebody had to let Vaccaro know the Falcons weren’t going to take it.
The Falcons got the message.
Later that year, Falcons offensive linemen were penalized two times for retaliating against opponents who they felt took cheap shots at Ryan.
The Falcons have had their soft underbelly exposed often during seven straight losing seasons, especially on defense. They could use more guys who play with an edge to help stop that slide.
It already looks like Pearce can be one of them.
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