Youth is Served as Atlanta Falcons Rookies Shine Early

The Buccaneers faced a 3rd-and-7 from their own 25-yard line, late in the second quarter. With less than 30 seconds to go in the first half, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich dialed up a blitz. Bowman found an open hole between the right guard and right tackle and zipped through.

He wrapped up Mayfield’s legs and got credit for the sack. Bowman finished the game with six total tackles (three solo, three assisted), a sack, and a quarterback hit.

Watts had himself a game as well. The rookie safety had six tackles (all solo), two pass breakups, and was a fingertip away from his first career interception. Watts became the first Falcons defender with five or more tackles and two or more pass breakups in his debut game since 1994.

Pro Football Focus (PFF) graded Watts at 81.5, the highest of any player on the field, Falcon or Buccaneer.

All-Pro safety Jessie Bates III was not surprised by Bowman or Watts’ performances in Week 1 after having worked beside them since the draft. 

“Not surprised at all,” Bates replied when asked about Watts. “I was telling you guys that he [Watts] showed that throughout training camp, throughout the spring, now it’s just you got to continue to do that every single week.”

Bates added that Bowman earned similar praise.

“Same thing with Bill, I thought he played really well … but the fact that he’s in the right position and he’s flying around, and he’s out there covering as well, really good to see,” Bates said.

Bowman made an impression on his defensive coordinator in Week 1 as well.

“Billy, I thought he had an exceptional game as well, for a rookie. Bumps in the road, for sure. Little things here and there from a technique standpoint that we can clean up, and there’s always going to be room for growth, but for a first time out, I was impressed.”

Ulbrich sees something very special in Watts. He sees him as a player who will never be satisfied, who will always keep working to be better than he was the last game, the last week, the last year.

“You saw the just exceptional ball skills, instinct, feel that he has,” Ulbruch said. “Now we just got to refine it and just keep working with him, and the beauty of X [Xavier] is he doesn’t, and I’m getting to know him as we go here, but he feels like a guy that will never be satisfied, is just going to keep pushing to get better. That’s dangerous.”

With rookies like Bowman and Watts flashing in the secondary after just one game, the Falcons' investment in youth is already paying off. If both continue to develop as Bates and Ulbrich expect, Atlanta’s secondary could quickly shift from a question mark into one of the team’s biggest strengths as the season unfolds.

They’ll get a big test this weekend against All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson and the Minnesota Vikings.