The Los Angeles Rams are in a bit of unfamiliar territory during the era led by head coach Sean McVay and superstar defensive lineman Aaron Donald. For many years, they were atop the NFL world, routinely making the postseason and ultimately winning the Super Bowl in February of 2022.
Last season, injuries plagued them from the jump and they wound up with one of the worst records in the NFL, but with the negative largely out of their control. That’s what makes this season so unique. In the summer, the Rams traded off several of their best players — largely on the defensive side of the ball — leaving Donald to lead a group of relatively inexperienced players in 2023.
Part of Donald being perhaps the only truly elite player on the Rams defense is an increase in attention. Donald has been double and triple-teamed at the line of scrimmage perhaps more than any player in the last decade, but L.A. has always had other stars to take attention. This season is different.
But the superstar is choosing not to focus on that and is instead working on controlling what he can control.
“Same old stuff. You just got to keep playing and try to find ways. Guys around you just got to continue to just keep going and winning one-on-ones if they want to try to focus on one person,” Donald said. “I’m just one guy, so you still got 10 other guys on the field so if they want to try to slow down one person, those other guys just got to step up. All I can do is just keep playing. Hopefully get my opportunities, take advantage of them, and go from there.”
Donald had praise for the rest of the guys on his defensive line for the mentality they play with each and every week although he did discuss how they can be better as a group.
“I think guys play hard, play with a lot of effort so we got to continue to do that. As a front, as a pass rush unit, we got to be better,” Donald said. “A little bit better getting out to the quarterback on one-on-ones, little bit more technique in pass rush situations and again, they want to slide the protection and continue to focus on one person, got a lot of opportunities out there with the one-on-ones that make the big play that we need. We just got to keep working on that and it’s going to come.”
Even with that inexperienced defensive line, Donald does not believe L.A. is far off from having more wins than they currently do.
“I don’t think we’re playing bad football, there’s just a couple mistakes here and there. Again, missed tackles, missed opportunities that were leaving on the field that you wish you had back but it’s the nature of the game. You got to try to eliminate those mistakes. Definitely in the NFL, you make two mistakes, you give up too many big plays, you tend to be the team to lose the game.
“I don’t think we’re playing bad, but we just got to play better, more consistent, better on third down at times. As a defense, try to eliminate some of those big penalties that hurt us before the half. It’s stuff that you don’t worry about, but you get a little frustrated about it, but you just got to keep working, keep playing. I think guys are playing good football. I think we still haven’t put it all together. I think once we do that, we’re going to be the team that we want to be. I think we got the talent here. I think we got the coaches. We just got to go out there, execute it and do it.”
Donald has been a phenomenal leader of the course of his surefire Hall of Fame career. And with his performance and effort this season, it’s clear the type of impact he can have on a defense.
McVay happy with Ochaun Mathis’ debut
Rams rookie linebacker Ochaun Mathis made his NFL debut in Week 5 against the Philadelphia Eagles, and head coach Sean McVay was happy with what he saw from the sixth-round pick.
“I thought it was good to be able to get his feet wet. He played a handful of snaps,” McVay said. “There were some rush situations where you could see the length and the overall ability.”
