JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Dameon Pierce simply refused to be tackled, imposing his punishing running style by muscling through defenders’ feeble arm tackle attempts with all of his considerable might.
The Texans’ powerful rookie running back just wouldn’t go down Sunday, busting through tacklers like a runaway truck. He shrugged one defender off of his shoulder pads with a roughneck shake of his head and shoulders, sending him falling to the ground.
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Pierce spun like a whirling dervish away from Jacksonville Jaguars safety Rashawn Jenkins in the backfield before bulling through Foye Oluokun, Tyson Campbell, Darius Williams, Shaquill Grifin, Andre Cisco, Devin Lloyd and Dawaune Smoot before he was finally tackled by Campbell and Cisco on their second try as Smoot grabbed his right ankle and held on for dear life.
Pierce displayed toughness, strength, vision and willpower. His sheer determination kept him on his feet as he churned through defenders to set up his game-winning touchdown run Sunday during a 13-6 road victory for the previously winless Texans.
The native of Bainbridge, Ga., is true to his roots. The 5-foot-10, 218-pound fourth-round draft pick from Florida runs with a rugged style all his own. He’s an emerging NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate.
‘”Go country boy, go,” Pierce said when asked what he was thinking about during this epic angry run. “It’s all about getting that touchdown, man. And I know I had them big boys coming defensively. They were going to rally behind me at some point, so I just tried to fight and get in the end zone.”
Two plays later, Pierce busted into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown run, his third score of the season.
Pierce rushed for 99 yards on 26 carries, averaging 3.8 yards per run. He did so despite facing at least seven defenders in the box on 22 of his 26 runs, which is tied for the most such carries in a game this season, according to Next Gen Stats.
“D.P. for president,” Texans right tackle Tytus Howard said. “He gets to the second level and he’s going to make something happen every time. I think he’s one of the best backs in the league.”
Rookie fullback Troy Hairston, Pierce’s friend and lead blocker, had a colorful reaction to what it’s like to watch him run.
“Dog, he’s an animal,” Hairston said. “That boy is relentless. He runs the ball and is hard to stop. That’s just grit. That’s the Texans’ way. He’s a football player.”
Pierce has rushed for 412 yards, a franchise record for a rookie through the first five weeks of the season and third most during that span in team history behind Arian Foster’s 546 yards in 2010 and 532 yards in 2012. He’s on pace to finish the season with 1,400 yards and 10 touchdowns.
“What I really felt, I was tired at first,” Pierce said after his big run. “We be tired at first. But after I caught my breath a little bit, man, like we just needed a surge, man. We were just looking for somebody to make a play. We was putting together a drive, but we wasn’t quite finishing them and punishing them and playing our type of football.
“We got back to playing our style of football. When we’re playing our style of football, we’re usually a great offense when we get things rolling, and just that play, that play kinda surged everyone up, got our spirits up and led to a touchdown.
Pierce became the first Texans rookie to run the football more than 25 times in a game since Alfred Blue had 36 carries against the Cleveland Browns in 2014.
“He’s had a consistent impact on our team, from when he came into the building,” Texans coach Lovie Smith said. “We know that he’s going to finish. He’s going to show toughness. He’s going to make plays. He’s going to make you miss in the open field. He’s doing what a No. 1 running back in the NFL should do. On a day like today we needed to lean on the run, and I thought he was outstanding.
“It’s fitting that he would, when we needed a play like that, he would be the one that showed up. It’s late in the game. Somebody’s got to make a play and there’s no such thing as fatigue then. I can talk about Dameon Pierce quite a bit. I just believe in the guy.”
When Pierce broke loose, right guard A.J. Cann had quite the view from his vantage point at the line of scrimmage. Cann delivered a key block to get the run started.
“I saw a couple of guys grab him,” Cann said. “All of a sudden, I see him keep breaking tackles. That was amazing. That was a good run. That’s the top run right there. I don’t have a list, but I would start with that one.”
The Texans are finding their identity as a smash-mouth football team.
Pierce is their most dangerous weapon.
“I think I probably counted at least six broken tackles that run,” quarterback Davis Mills said. “I looked at LT (Laremy Tunsil) after the play and I was like, ‘This guy is the real deal.’ He’s trying to win games and he’s helping us out a lot. Just the energy he brings day in and day out, it rubs off on everybody on the team, and we want to rally behind that, and we want to fight for him. I think we kind of found our identity today, being a run-first football team, being downhill.”
Howard said that Pierce has earned honorary lineman status.
Does Pierce owe the big guys a nice dinner? Or is the other way around.
“Oh now, we have to get him some food after what he did today,” Howard said. “Breaking tackles. That’s what he eats: breaking tackles.”
How Pierce goes about his job is simple in its ferocity. He just instinctively reacts to every situation that flashes across his eyes with physicality.
“It’s all about contact, like if you feel somebody, you just spin out,” Pierce said. “You got somebody on your leg, pull out. Somebody coming, dip your shoulder, double wrap the ball, just get yards, man. It takes time. It definitely comes with time.
“Like I wouldn’t tell you to go put no pads on and try to go spin out of something, but it comes with time. But there’s ways of maneuvering. There’s a right way to do things. As long as I’ve got that ball wrapped up, I’m good.”
Pierce displayed breakaway speed on a 75-yard touchdown run against the Los Angeles Chargers a week ago for the longest run by a rookie since Kalen Ballage with the Miami Dolphins in 2018.
Used sparingly by coach Dan Mullen with the Gators as he was part of a platoon system, Pierce rushed for 574 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. He averaged 5.7 yards per carry and caught 19 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns. As a junior, he rushed for 503 yards and four touchdowns and caught 17 passes for 156 yards and one score. Now, Pierce is off to a fast start at the NFL level.
“Hey, man, he’s a dog, bro,” linebacker Garret Wallow said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen somebody run the ball like that. I just think his potential, his future is going to be really bright.”
Pierce’s mother, Shameeka Rogers, was at NRG Stadium for his touchdown jaunt last week and took the football back to their hometown. She was in attendance at the Jaguars game, too.
“I’ve got a great group of guys around me on this team, from the veteran leadership to the coaches, to the support staff, training room, weight room,” Pierce said. “It takes a village, especially with me being a rookie. I’m a young guy. It takes a village to kind of groom me in the right direction.
“I need to be to be a key factor on this team and be an eventual leader on this team and take the roles of some of those veteran guys as they end their careers, as they move away from football. They are doing a great job of putting me in that role to enable me to be one of those leaders and step up for this team.”
Aaron Wilson is a Pro Football Network reporter and a contributor to KPRC 2 and click2houston.com