The Pittsburgh Steelers face a big challenge on Sunday as they head to California to face the Los Angeles Rams.
The Rams have had a respectable 3-3 start, better than a lot of experts thought, especially after their 5-12 performance last season. While they were Super Bowl champions in 2021, the Rams had minimal cap room to make moves and had traded a lot of their draft picks, limiting their ability to make substantial improvements to the roster.
Despite this, the Rams still employ some of the brightest superstars in the NFL and perhaps none shine quite as bright as defensive tackle Aaron Donald. Donald, who grew up in Pittsburgh and attended the University of Pittsburgh, has earned the respect of a lot of fellow Pittsburgh natives over the years. One of those people is Mike Tomlin, who had this to say about Donald on The Mike Tomlin Show today.
“If anything, he is probably getting better with experience. To be able to pick the times in which he takes over a game and recognize opportunities.” Tomlin said to host Bob Pompeani. “It just seems like he’s so efficient in his burst of energy and playmaking abilities. If you’re from Pittsburgh like I am and have been around here, you’re familiar with his exploits. I’m not surprised by anything that I see from him. Really he needs no endorsement from guys like me. Just Wikipedia him. Three Defensive Player of the Year awards, seven-time first-team all-pro. Just a football Mount Rushmore type of guy.”
While Donald is not longer putting up 20-sack seasons and winning Defensive Player of the Year awards like he did five years ago, he remains one of the scariest defensive players in the league to go up against. As he’s grown older, he’s been able to pick his spots well so he can still have his impact felt over the course of a game.
Steelers’ center Mason Cole draws the unenviable matchup of Donald in Week Seven for the Steelers. While ideally he won’t be left alone on Donald every play, he should expect to see more than his fair share of time going up against Donald. And as our own Alex Kozora has noted, Cole hasn’t exactly looked great this season after a solid 2022 campaign.
Donald has had some historical success against the Steelers in his two meetings with them in 2015 and 2019. He had a sack as well as three tackles for losses in each contest and even picked up a safety in the 2019 game. The Steelers won both matchups but didn’t break 20 points in either.
As Donald is one of the biggest game-breakers in the league, it’s impossible to expect that the Steelers will fully stop him. But to allow the offense to have a chance to move the ball, Cole and the rest of the offensive line will have to work to at least slow him down.
