All-Twenty Tuesday: Bucs DE Jason Pierre-Paul

Jason Pierre-Paul’s career, to this point, looks pretty dang good when you consider the accident he went through in 2015. In years that Pierre-Paul has played 16 games – not including his rookie year – he has never finished with less than 6.5 sacks, and that includes 2016, in which he only played 12 games and still recorded seven. Not only has Pierre-Paul been consistent overall, but he has also been strong at the top with two double-digit sack seasons – 16.5 in 2011 and 12.5 in 2014.

Pierre-Paul had a tough first year coming back from his injury due to not only the recovery but also the way he had to deal with it. With the injury being so severe, he had to wear a club on his right hand as to protect it from basically everything. Without having any ability to use his fingers or even bend his wrist around players, Pierre-Paul struggled. But, as he acclimated to the injury, his production began to improve again. The year after his injury he finished with seven sacks and last year, in 2017, no longer required to club his right hand, Pierre-Paul notched 8.5 sacks, the third-highest yearly total in his career.

The way Pierre-Paul has had to adjust how he attacks the pocket does exist, and the fact that he’s missing fingers on his right hand do play a role in that, no matter how much the overall injury heals. But, from the statistical totals in 2016 and 2017, it’s fair to say that Pierre-Paul has adjusted well and can still bring plenty to the table as a pass rusher – and an element that the Bucs just do not have without him.

The theme of the offseason additions along the defensive line for the Buccaneers has first and foremost been about stopping the run. As I’ve started in previous Cover 3’s, the Bucs had the seventh-worst rush yards given up per attempt in the NFL last year, and that can likely be traced as the core of their problems on defense. If you can’t stop the run, you won’t win.

Defensive additions such as Beau Allen and Mitch Unrein are the obvious run-stuffers that the Bucs have added, but Vinny Curry and now Jason Pierre-Paul were also added and coveted due to their ability to not only get after the quarterback but also be consistent on run downs when they’re in the game.

Pierre-Paul is not only long with his arms but also freakishly strong when his arm is fully extended. In the game versus the Chargers, Pierre-Paul was going up against offensive tackle Russell Okung, who also has long arms. This was a good match-up, and one that we’ll get most of our examples from in this film review.

When you’re defending the run as a defensive lineman, you want to have your arm as extended as possible because it not only allows you to see the ball better and determine where it is going, but it also neutralizes the offensive lineman’s punch and their ability to push or redirect you. Pierre-Paul showed in the clip above that he has that strength to not only maintain separation, but also rip off the block when needed to make the tackle.

In the clip above we have another example of strength with arms extended.

The play was a toss to the outside. Ideally, running back Melvin Gordon would have liked to cut up the field between where the guard was getting to the second level and where the offensive tackle was stretching. But, because Pierre-Paul had such control of Okung, Gordon hesitated and had to go all the way outside where he was tackled near the sideline. That’s good run support by Pierre-Paul, and more evidence that he isn’t just long, but long and strong.

As you would expect for a player as talented as Pierre-Paul, the most important part of his game is consistency.

For example, the clip above is very similar to the one before it that was a success. However, this time around, Pierre-Paul wasn’t quick enough to get his hand into place as he made contact with Okung, and Okung got the better of Pierre-Paul, strength-wise, as you would expect for a guy who is 40 pounds heavier.

When Pierre-Paul has the energy, he can do some great things just from effort alone.

Pierre-Paul’s go-to move is a bull rush. He did that a lot in 2017, and I would expect that to continue with the Buccaneers in 2018.

The clip above is a bit sloppy, but I wanted to point out that thought he and Okung were having a back-and-forth all game long, even though he didn’t win with a certain move, Pierre-Paul’s effort and strength in his push back was enough to reach the quarterback. The throw got out, but Pierre-Paul would have been there had it been held a half a second longer. That’s good natural strength once again, this time in pass rush.

I am, however, somewhat worried about how the Giants used him – or over-used him.

Pierre-Paul played 92 percent of the snaps on defense in 2017, and has really been used quite a bit for most of his career. He’s a natural athlete who just loves to go out and make plays, but you could see it, at times, that he was just straight up tired. In the play above and in the one below that will be another example, Pierre-Paul got decent push back in his initial contact, but then just didn’t have the juice to finish it.

There are going to be reps that Pierre-Paul is in the game that he’s going to be tired. Duh, that’s football. But, as we’ll get to in a second here, you want to make sure Pierre-Paul is as fresh as he can be because when he has the energy in him, he can do some special things.

I think the Bucs have set themselves up pretty nicely to be able to have a good defensive line rotation available so they don’t have to kill Pierre-Paul’s stamina on the edge, especially if they’re drafting another defensive lineman, particularly an edge rusher, high in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Now let’s get to the good part: the pass rush.

First off, if you’re not a good offensive tackle or just hesitant at all when going up against Pierre-Paul, he’s going to make your day a nightmare. The clip above is an example of that. Now, without context, this just looked like a total whiff by the offensive lineman and nothing really for Pierre-Paul to brag about. But, for a pass rusher-offensive lineman match up, there are rounds like a boxing match throughout the game. As stated before, Pierre-Paul’s first go-to is his bull rush. He’ll try to get those long arms up and into offensive lineman while driving them back and overpowering them. That was the case for most of the game before the moment we saw above.

So, as a result, when the offensive lineman saw Pierre-Paul coming straight at him again this time, he braced for heavy contact in the middle of his chest, and you can see he almost braces and loads up for a counter punch. But, just as Pierre-Paul made contact, he brushed off the offensive lineman’s shoulder and went straight to the quarterback.

Pierre-Paul’s bread and butter to success after he establishes his bull rush is his counter move to the inside. When he can time everything right (which does happen quite often), he can fire off the line and get into the pocket quickly, as shown in the clip above.

In his press conference at One Buc Place, Pierre-Paul said he’s a much more mature player rather than just a talented one now as he returns back to the Tampa Bay area. That is most evident in his understanding of spacing between offensive lineman and knowing where to position himself pre-snap in order to manipulate them and be able to split holes in the offensive line to reach the quarterback.

The only other player on the Buccaneers who can hit a counter move to the inside like that is Noah Spence, and that’s if Spence has success doing it. The problem with Spence is that he never had quite enough power in a bull rush or speed and bend as an edge rusher to really get that offensive lineman to open up his stance to be able to catch him off guard the was Pierre-Paul does.

That’s what makes Pierre-Paul so successful is that it’s a set up game. First he establishes strength against the run, then he attacks the pocket with a strong bull rush. With those in place he can begin to open up the offensive lineman and eventually pick his battles when he see the space to launch himself inside with a good swim move to boot.

Once all of that lines up – likely near the end of the game – if a team is down on the scoreboard and has to pass, Pierre-Paul can feast.

In the play above, the Giants purposefully line their defensive linemen up to get Pierre-Paul the one-on-one match up with as much space as possible. This play came after the handful of plays I showed before where he won with an inside move, and if you’ve watch the clip directly above a few times, notice how he stunts as if he’s going to go to the inside, forces Okung to hesitate and then is able to beat him to the outside.

Now remember, if a player has 16.5 sacks in a single season out of 1,000 or so reps they played, it’s considered an amazing season. Yes, Pierre-Paul is going to get stone-walled some plays. Yes, he might even disappear for a game or two. You don’t want that, but that’s just football. Still, the reason a team goes out and gets a guy like Pierre-Paul is because he has the body frame, the athleticism, the strength and the football I.Q. to throw a total pass-rushing game plan at an offensive lineman that can have success at each level of complexity.

That’s something the Buccaneers, though talented in other ways, didn’t have without him.