Falcons, James Pearce Jr. involved in several training camp scrums on Sunday: 'His anger got the best of him'

Atlanta Falcons rookie edge rusher James Pearce Jr. was at the center of a pair of dust-ups at training on Sunday. Although defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich told ESPN he liked to see the fire from the first-year player, he also admitted it went “a little too far.”

One one series, Pearce got into it with left guard Matthew Bergeron, whose helmet came off. Multiple players from both sides got involved and edger rusher Leonard Floyd had to come to to Pearce’s defense.

Just one play after that, Pearce again found himself fighting with another teammate, this time right tackles Kaleb McGary, who was screaming at Pearce with his helmet off. Floyd again stepped in as more pushing and shoving ensued.

“We’re trying to develop a culture, a style of play for sure, and part of that is the violence with which we play and aggression, the urgency and all that,” Ulbrich said. “Today, at times, it went a little too far and we’ve got to learn how to manage that.

“You’re going to get agitated and, especially when you’re playing really good defense, the offense is going to get very agitated, so you’ve got to anticipate punches being thrown, things being said, people getting pushed. In those moments, you got to thrive and not retaliate and so it’s a good lesson to be learned today.”

Pearce was selected with the No. 26 overall pick in this past year’s NFL Draft out of Tennessee. He figures to be a key part of the Falcons’ future and gives them a promising pass rushing prospect who recorded 17.5 sacks the past two years with the Volunteers.

Ulbrich continued to say that he believes Pearce can use Sunday’s skirmished as a lesson, and he has to learn to deescalate before punches are thrown, which happened a couple of times. But at the same time, he likes to see his young player have that kind of passion, it just has to be channeled the right way.

“He’s prideful as it gets,” Ulbrich said. “He loves this game. He’s got deep love for his teammates … and he wants to come out here and create a strong impression on everybody — and himself included — that he can do this.

“And you do this at a high level, and I think when you’re in that place of just every ounce of your body’s trying to prove who you are, sometimes it gets to that place where it can get a little wacky sometimes. His anger got the best of him a little bit and it is going to be a great learning experience for him.”