Falcons Rookie James Pearce Jr Is A Heat Seeking Missile | Film Review

Falcons Rookie James Pearce Jr Is A Heat Seeking Missile | Film Review

All right, welcome back to another one of our film reviews. Today we’re talking Atlanta Falcons rookie edge defender, James Pierce Jr., the other half of the Falcons dynamic edge rushing rookie duo. James Pierce Jr., he’s getting better and better. He’s a playmaker just like his counterpart. A little different stylistically, but a great part of this Falcons defense. And we’ll break down everything he did so well in Atlanta’s recent victory on Monday night. As always, in the comment section below, give us any feedback you might have. If you’re a fan of these film reviews and want to help support us so we can do more of them. Consider becoming a member of our channel. There’s a link in the description box below that will take you right there. But without further ado, let’s jump right into the film. All right, I want to open up with one of my favorite plays from James Pierce Jr. There he is right there on the right side of your screen. So you can see the Buffalo Bills. It’s a short yardage situation. It looks like tush push stuff, right? You got the guy pushing right there. You got all the offensive linemen right there. It’s going to be a surge to try and get a yard or two. But the Bills, they try and get a little cute. They try to do a little speed sweep action this way cuz their assumption is everyone’s going to crash down out inside for the Atlanta Falcons and they’ll be able to get outside for a big play. But James Pierce Jr., he sees it coming. He takes one step here. He recognizes, reacts, and blows up the play. Phenomenal rep from the rookie. Let’s check it out. There’s a snap. Speed sweep. 27’s there. Blows it up. Nice play. Here’s the crazy part, guys. Look at James Pierce Jr. right there. He takes one step inside. It’s not like he guessed right. He then reads and reacts. Right. This is what’s so cool about this. This is happening a million miles an hour. He takes one step inside in case it’s a quarterback sneak. Sees it’s a sweep, then goes outside and makes the play. All after getting hit in the face. Watch 79 right there. Hit him in the face mask. He stumbles, recovers, and makes the play. This is scary level athleticism right here from number 27. His counterpart, number 11, he’s sort of the physical freak in terms of having every single skill set, every single tool in the tool belt. But Pierce, he’s a little bit different. I call him a glitch in the matrix because he does things that don’t seem possible. Right here, he looks like, okay, there’s no way he’s making this play, right? But he makes a tackle. Makes a tackle for loss. I don’t know how he can do this, right? You talk about NFL players being freakish athletes. One step inside, one step outside, gets hit in the face, recovers, and makes a play against a really fast Buffalo Bills receiver, number 18. This is just what great players do. This is why you draft athletic freaks like James Pierce Jr. Nice play for the rookie. All right, from the wide copy, you can see him right there in the middle of your screen. This is so good. One step inside, outside, makes a tackle. It happens so fast, guys. It’s one of those things when you break down the film, it kind of looks a little slower than it really is. But this is in the span of about like 500 milliseconds. He goes from quarterback sneak, sweep, hit the face, stumble, make the tackle. That’s so good, so fast. That’s next level recognizing and reacting. One of the things that you can tell when rookies are becoming superstars is when the game slows down for them. When they can do a lot of things. There’s some rookies, right, that off the rip, they’re really good at, let’s say, pass rush, but if there’s any counter move they have to do or if anything funky happens, they’re kind of stuck, right? Because the game hasn’t slowed down. You see this a lot in young quarterbacks. James Pierce Jr., the game is so slow that he can read the quarterback sneak, take a step outside when he sees it’s a speed sweep, get hit in the face, recover, and then make the tackle. Great play. All right, next up, let’s go with some pass rushing. There’s James Pierce Jr. right there on the right side of your screen. So, this is a creative look here for the Atlanta Falcons defensively. They’re going to drop 55 in coverage. You’re going to drop 17 in coverage. They’re going to slant this defensive tackle. He’s lined up in a two-ey technique on the inside eye of the guard right there inside this direction. They’re going to take Jaylen Walker lined up on the inside eye of that tackle there. You may want to call him a wide three. You can call him a four eye, but regardless, he’s a B gap player, but he’s going to slant inside this way. So, we’re going to get slant that way, slant that way. These guys drop into coverage. They’re going to bring zero around right here. And they’re going to keep James Pierce Jr. out wide just like this. And it creates a jailbreak on the quarterback. The rookie number 27 helps clean it up and make the play. Great team defense. Let’s check it out. There’s the snap. Here comes the rush. Pocket collapses. Everyone’s there to make the play. All right, let’s break this down. Right, they actually bring a guy off the edge, too. I didn’t mention number 20. They have two guys in a single gap right there coming after the quarterback. This is a jailbreak of jailbreaks. The whole goal of the strategy, and you can see, is to get the left guard, center, and right guard all occupied inside and then to bring two guys right there. It’s a really good strategy. It’s a great concept, great design. And you can see James Pierce Jr. though, he plays a key role. He’s going to occupy the left tackle and be the container because when you’re firing inside blitzers like this, quarterbacks like Josh Allen, their number one reaction is to just roll out the scape like you see there. You need to have a container. And that’s exactly what James Pierce Jr. is. Team defense, right? But here’s the most important part, and this is why I’m so excited about 27. He’s made great plays, showed off his athleticism in the past, but now he’s being productive. Right? Now he’s making the tackle. He’s getting the sacks. He’s getting the ball carrier on the ground, getting the quarterback on the ground, the next part of his game. That’s what makes me so excited about his future. Before it was flashes of brilliance, flashes of incredible talent. Now we’re seeing that talent with production emerge. I think it’s a sign of a very bright future for 27. Pierce really had his breakout game against the Bills here. He had his highest graded game of the season per PFF with a 77.2 overall grade here. I think we’ve seen him play his best football. And the best part, it’s not just some fluke. He’s gaining more snaps as the season goes on. His highest snap count game has also been his best game as well, showing this guy is really starting to put it together and figure out some key things. All right, next up, let’s go with some run defense. And there’s James Pierce Jr. right there on the right side of your screen. And this is going to be a gap concept here for the Buffalo Bills. The left tackle is going to take this gap and block out. Left guard’s going to take this gap and block out. Center’s going to take this gap. We’re going to get this guard right here taking this gap. It’s going to be by design a double team, but 90 goes away. So then this guard goes that direction. This tight end, he’s trying to work up to the next level. This tight end’s trying to work up to James Pierce Jr. 41 comes in motion here pre- snap to get a little flow here from the linebackers and safeties. But James Pierce Jr., let me clean up the screen. He does a great job slanting inside. He takes on two blockers, eliminates them both, and forces the running back to basically run away from him. Like it’s like a it’s like a game of like, you know, capture the flag or something where Cook number four, the running back, he sees James Pun, he’s like, “Uh, can’t go that way. Got to go this way.” It’s a pretty incredible play. Let’s check it out. There’s the motion. There’s the snap. Inside run. Has to run away. Ends up getting tackled for about three, four yard gain. Good job by number four to get what he could. Let’s look at James Pierce Jr. right here. Tight end goes out to block him. He beats him clean, fights through the other tight end, and then forces the running back. I mean, look at this. This is hilarious. It’s like number four is like, uh, nope. I am not going to run a James Pierce Jr. I mean, this is hilarious, but it does underline how good he’s becoming in terms of just a playmaker right here. Beats a block inside, occupies another guy, takes over this tight end. You see number 85, who is that for Buffalo? He gets knocked down, he ends up falling flat on his face. Right? It’s one of those things, beating two blockers, causing chaos, wrecking havoc, forcing the running back to go the other direction. One of the things that can happen with guys like James Pierce Jr. and Jaylen Walker is a very similar mold is they break the rules of the offense, right? The play is designed to go a certain direction, a certain way, but when you have athletes like this, they completely obliterate those entire concepts. And then sometimes you have good players like Cook, number four, is a good player, and they’re able to salvage it and turn into something. But over the long run, and we saw it Monday night against Buffalo, this Falcons playmaking front, they win the day. And this is so sustainable, guys. This isn’t a fluke play, right? This isn’t him breaking through because he just so happened to go against you an undrafted rookie tight end one-on-one or it wasn’t a miscommunication where the tight end went that way, the other tight end went that way, and he just came through unblocked. This is him fighting through, guys. This is him making plays, disrupting the offense. And I think this will continue to happen the rest of the year. All right, from the wide cop, you can see James Pierce Jr. at the top of your screen, beats the tight end, takes on the other tight end, forces the running back to run away. I mean, this is hilarious, right? Number four is like right there. He just puts on the brakes and runs. Just literally running away from James Pier Jr. I’ve never seen this, guys. This is hilarious. Ah, run away. I mean, that’s that’s pretty comical. But this is what you get with these freak athletes, these glitches in the Matrix, as I like to say. It gets comical. It looks funny. It looks like it’s not how it should supposed to be. And it’s not for the offense, right? It’s not supposed to be, oh my goodness, the defensive end’s right at my face. I got to run away. Just find a hole wherever I can. This just breaks up the entire flow of the offense. It breaks up the entire scheme, the entire strategy. Running back doesn’t get in the rhythm. O line doesn’t get in the rhythm. And again over the, you know, long game and over a long season, this kind of defensive front, this kind of play like we see here from 27 that wins a day. Great sign for Atlanta. All right, let’s go back to the pass rush. And there’s James Pierce Jr. on the right side of your screen. He’s going to be matched up to oneonone on the Buffalo Bills allp pro veteran left tackle Dion Dawkins right there. And this is going to be a complicated blitz scheme here for the Atlanta Falcons. So this defensive end, he’s going to do a standard pass rush. Zero’s going to drop into coverage. Number 54 right here, he’s going to fire off this direction. Jaylen Walker is going to loop around here and they’re going to fire 55 inside and have James Pierce Jr. be the outside rush. I mean, I love the Atlanta Falcons with their exotic rushes and blitzes. It’s awesome. It’s great to see they do a great job in terms of calling these but also executing. But I want you guys to focus on this matchup here. James Pierce Jr. again one-on-one on a great left tackle. He gets him with the old speed to power. Threats with speed and then beats him with power inside. Forces the tackle to hold him. James Pierce Jr. gets tackled. It’s a mis call by the officials. What can you do there? It happens. But it’s a great win in a one-on-one situation against a phenomenal tackle. Let’s check it out. There’s a snap. There’s a stunt. There’s a blitz. Quick throw. Good job by the Bills offense, right? Good job by Allen right there getting rid of the ball quickly. Credit where credit is due. Let’s look at James Pierce Jr. here. 101 threats with speed. You can see the tackle gets out there. He’s backpedaling. Look at that. Looks like a DB as much as a 340lb tackle can look like a DB. Then he goes inside, beats him clean. It’s really hard to see cuz it’s a quick throw, but right there, guys, he’s got him beat. And right there, you can also see the tackles. He’s just mugging 27, right? Cuz he’s got a beline shot on Josh Allen. The tackle holds him. It’s not a bad play from the tackle. You know, protect your quarterback. Should have been called is what it is. But this to me is where James Pierce Jr. can be so deadly because he’s such a good athlete where opposing tackles and opposing offenses, they’re going to be scared to death of his speed. Again, that glitch in the matrix, but his inside move off of speed to power. That’s one of the things I’ve been wanting to see more of cuz I think his power is good enough and we’re starting to see it. Throw it with speed. Go to power move inside through the chest. That’s winning football. That’s a winning pass rush move. More of this from James Pierce Jr. takes him from being good to unblockable. Pierce also has been playing some really nice clean football. No mental mistakes. Playing really sharp as a rookie. Very impressive for him. He had one penalty week one. Has not had one since then. Absolutely clean football. One penalty in five weeks of play for a rookie. I think you’d take that every day of the week. This guy is looking really smart, not making any mental mistakes. I wanted to take a minute from today’s video to talk about something that’s really important to me and I know it’s really important to a lot of you guys as well. And that is football cards. And guys, I’m not just saying that. I live this stuff. I’ve had this binder going back, I don’t know, years now at this point. Like I’ve been all about football cards ever since I’ve been like nine years old. And I know a lot of you guys are as well. is one of the best parts of being a fan of sports, being a fan of football in general. And that’s why we’re excited to work with our sponsor today, and that is Arena Club, guys. Arena Club, they’re changing the game. It used to be, and it was like this when I was a little kid, right? You go to the store, you buy a box, you buy a pack, you rip open the cards, and you’re left with a lot of stuff you don’t want, right? I remember years ago, I saved up forever to buy a pack of a really nice pack of cards, and I got a JP Lawman autograph card, which is I mean, it was cool at the time, but I mean, I’m not a Bills fan. I don’t want a JP Lawman autograph card. I wanted to have the option, as I’m sure a lot of people in a similar boat did, which is maybe trade it in, get another buying at the Apple, see if I can get something better. And that’s what Arena Club does, guys. They have high quality graded cards via their slab packs. I could explain to you guys what a slab pack is. But without further ado, let’s show exactly how this process works. You can go on to their website. You can see all the different slab pack options here. You pick one. I got one earlier. I opened it up. Let’s see what I got. You got all these cool demonstrations. Wow. I mean, they make it look good, guys. And here we go in front of us. And And look at that. Wow. Wow. That’s impressive. We’re talking CD Lamb. You talk about legit superstar. Awesome card. Now, the great thing about Arena Club is they give you an option to potentially trade it in. They give you an offer right now. I’ll push it till later. Let’s go into my showroom, guys. Let’s look at the cards I currently have in my showroom that I could order to come to my house that I already have or maybe I could trade it in or all my options right there. And you can see there’s CD Lamb and there’s Bryce Young, a card I got an earlier date. Guys, Arena Club, they’re the best in the business. They’re changing the game. And guys, here’s the best part. Arena Club’s offering a 20% 20% discount off of anybody buying their first slam pack who goes to arena.com/smi and uses our code smi. Three little letters pretty easy to remember. You get 20% off your first slam pack. Awesome deal. Make sure you check it out again. Arenaclub.com/smi. Use our code smi today. All right, let’s go back to the run defense. And there’s James Pierce Jr. right there on the left side of your screen. So, this is going to be a very weird concept here for the Buffalo Bills. You’ll notice the left tackle is pretty high up, the left guard’s pretty high back. It’s kind of a weird alignment and it’s kind of an inside zone concept, right? The left tackle’s going this direction, center’s going this direction. Left guard’s kind of going this direction, but then he kind of turns into a pole. They get some pre- snap motion right here. It’s a very weird concept. Running back hitting the hole just like that. I don’t know exactly what the Buffalo Bills are trying to do, but I can tell you exactly what the Atlanta Falcons are trying to do. So, it’s a gap responsibility swap. So, by the structure, you can see on the play side, number 90 lined up in a 2I, he’s got this gap. Makes sense. This linebacker is lined up right here. He’s got that gap. And James Pierce Jr., he’s lined up right here. He’s got this gap. But they actually do a gap responsibility swap. James Pierce Jr. goes inside right here. And the linebacker fires outside. You see this a lot in today’s National Football League. And I am a fan. But in the run game, you got to be careful because if you slant inside right here, you get washed down inside. The running back can kind of cut right back behind you for a big play. James Pierce Jr. does a good job going inside, taking on the block, holding his ground, and basically creating a big pile right here. create a big old mush here where the defense is able to collapse and make the play. Good job by the rookie. Let’s check it out. There’s the motion. There’s the snap. Completely blown up. Good defense. This is weird from Buffalo. I don’t know what 76 is doing, right? It kind of looks like zone. Kind of looks a little bit like I think it’s backside, you know, on the backside. It looks like zone. Looks like inside zone. I don’t know. It’s a weird play. But let’s look at James Pierce Jr. right here. You can see he’s going to go inside. Sees it to run. Gets stout. Keeps his gap responsibility the whole time. I love that. Again, his gap becomes this B gap right here. ABC. Just a quick refresher. He goes inside of the B gap and he keeps that gap alignment right there. He stays inside the tackle that’s in his gap. Keeps a good base, fights off the block and is part of the tackle. Good fundamentally sound football. He is a glitch in the matrix, as I like to say, but he’s got good technique, too. Good fundamentals. That’s a key part of why the Falcons pass rush, these young edge defenders and in here in the run defense is so good because they’re not just uber talented, of which of course they are, but they’re also fundamentally sound and that makes them a really tough bunch to handle. Nice play here from James Pierce Jr. defending the run. All right, from the Y cop, you can see James Pierce Jr. He’s going to go inside at the snap, take on the block, mash your humanity, make the play. I This is just winning defense. And you can see number 90 right here. He wins, too. You can see the outside linebacker wins. Everybody wins. And that’s how you get great defense, right? if everyone’s winning. But let’s see if this outside linebacker got blocked by the guard right there. James Pierce Junior is there to clean it up anyway. That’s the beauty of playing good, funly sound football and good team defense and having playmakers. And this is why the Falcons, the success they’re having is so sustainable because it’s not just, oh, James Pierce Jr. had a field day and that’s why they won or or 55 had a field day or Jaylen Walker had a field day or whatever. Everybody is winning. So even if 55 gets blocked, James Pierce Jr. makes a play, right? It’s one of those things when you’re winning like this across the board, your one-on-one matchups, playing fundamentally sound football, team defense, that’s sustainable because going forward, if 55 is an off day, James Pierce Jr. will clean it up. If the rookie 27 is an off day, 55 may clean it up, right? Team defense, funnily sound defense, that’s a recipe for sustained success. All right, we talked about James Pierce Jr.’s athleticism, and there he is right there on the left side of your screen, lined up across left tackle, Deion Dawkins once again. But he but one of the things about this young rookie that I really like and Jaylen Walker very similar. They use him a bunch of different ways. Little Swiss Army knife action here. So he actually one-on-one pass rush. You think listen rookie defensive end go to work. See if you can make a play. Keep it simple for you, right? You’re a young guy. We don’t want to throw too much on your plate. Not the case. They actually drop 27 into coverage right here and allow the other rushers right here to get after it. Forces the quarterback to escape. Again, good coverage down the field. Good defense on the quarterback. They had Josh Allen in a nightmare scenario. Let’s check it out. Motion inside. It’s going to go back out. There’s a snap. Here’s the rush. Nowhere to go with the football. Eventually gets tackled right there. Swarming defense. This is what it’s all about, guys. You can see James Pierce Jr. defensive end right here. Vacates. Goes into zone. Look where Josh Allen’s looking. He’s trying to hit the crosser. James Pierce Jr.’s right there trying to hit the other crosser. They’ve got guys right there trying to step up in the pocket. Zero’s right there. This is so good game planning wise, guys. It’s a great design, but it only works if you have rookie defensive ends that can drop into coverage against one of the best offenses in the AFC. Like you you can’t do this with most defensive ends, veteran guys, let alone rookies. No one even imagine it. The Bills came into this game, their offensive coordinator, Joe Brady, great offensive coordinator. I guarantee you he didn’t come into this match up and said, “You know what? We’re going to have to figure out a solution to how we can attack James Pierce Jr., a rookie defensive end in coverage.” Right? That was not on his bingo card. And now he’s got to figure it out. And now John Shalon just turns into scramble mode and they’ve got a spy right there to make the play. The Falcons had all the answers. Great game plan, great execution, but it only works when you have the guy show up. It’s an X’s and O’s games for sure, but the Joe’s got to make the plays. James Pierce Jr., phenomenal rep right here doing his part. I think a key here for Pierce Jr. coming out of college is the guy known as a pass rusher. I think that’s going to come the more snaps he gets, he’s gonna get those pressures and turn them into sacks. already had one sack on the season, but he’s starting to figure out the run defense game and doing a really great job there. 73.9 run defense grade for him. Highest grade of the season by a large margin to 13.5 points uh higher than any other grade he has gotten this season. Really doing well in the run defense game, especially against this Buffalo Bills team. Really had a big time run defense performance here for James Pierce Jr. All right, let’s end on some run defense. And there’s James Pierce Jr. all the way right there on the left side of your screen, far left side of your screen. It’s going to be a standard inside zone concept right here. So, left tackle, we’re going to get a base block. Tight end’s going to get a base block here. We’re going to get a zone double team right here. Guard work up to the next level. Backside scoops, backside scoops, right? Backside scoops, backside cut offs. Standard stuff. Running back to look for a cutback wherever he can. He finds a little crease right here. But I want you guys to watch James Pierce Jr. as this play unfolds, right? It’s not a tough situation he’s in because the running back’s going to cut back. He’s all the way on the outside. His job was just to maintain contain, but I love the way he plays the game. He just inserts an unblockable element. He’s physically becoming confident in the kind of player he can be, and that’s a great sign and behold. Let’s check it out. There’s a snap. Inside zone, cuts back. Falcons defense is there. Nice play. Let’s look at James Pierce Jr. All the way here on the left, right? Gets blocked up by 88. Does his job great body position and cover in terms of outside contain, securing the edge, everything you want, that’s fine. But I love the way he fights off a block immediately. This is next level. This how you become unblockable, right? You can see other guys, they have some troubles. Look at this situation right here. You got a little pancake action right there. That’s not great. Some other guys stuck on blocks. You can see the nose guard right there. Kind of stuck on the block a little bit. He’s able to fight off, but again, you got guys stuck on blocks. It’s part of it. National Football League, you’re you’re going against NFL guys. James Pierce Jr. does his job and the moment he sees the running back cut, fights off the block. That’s how you become unblockable. That’s the next step in his game. He’s becoming physically dominant. We talk about the glitch in the matrix athleticism. He still has that, right? You talk about his playmaking, his production accelerating. He’s getting there with that in terms of his versatility, dropping in his own coverage, right? Another wrinkle to this Falcons defense, adding that into the mix. But now he’s becoming unblockable. And now that makes James Pierce Jr. along with Jaylen Walker a dynamic duo with the rest of the bunch up front for the Atlanta Falcons that I don’t know anyone has an answer to. I don’t know who I don’t know how you play this Atlanta team. They are so good, so aggressive, so well coached, so fundamentally sound, and they play hard. And now we’re adding unblockable elements to it as well. Folks, this group with James Pierce Jr. It’s going to be tough to

This Atlanta Falcons content is sponsored by Arena Club. Right now, you can get 20% off your first Slab Pack or card purchase by going to arenaclub.com/smi and use code SMI.

The Atlanta Falcons have yet another star rookie James Pearce Jr. James Pearce Jr has impressed for the Atlanta Falcons and his future looks even brighter. The Falcons have to really like what they are getting from their rookies.

If you like the film reviews and breakdowns please consider becoming a member under the “Support the Film Reviews” tier. It helps us out a lot and will allow us to make many, many more of these types of videos. Link to join: https://www.youtube.com/@saturdaymorninginspection/join

Want to learn how to break down film like I was taught at the D-1 level? Sign up to get my FREE step by step guide I use to these breakdowns at the link: https://all-22-with-nick-rudman.kit.com/checklist

For business inquiries contact us at: saturdaymorninginspection@gmail.com

#falcons #atlantafalcons #riseup