While he has flirted with the idea of retirement, future Hall of Fame DT Aaron Donald continues to play at a high level for the Los Angeles Rams. Now 32 years old, he still knows how to dominate offensive linemen in his 10th NFL season.
Already with two-and-a-half sacks and eight tackles for loss with eight quarterback hits, the perennial Pro Bowler has been a handful, and certainly the best part of the Rams’ defense. And up next, he gets the Pittsburgh Steelers and C Mason Cole, who has seen no drop-off in Donald’s play.
“I don’t think so. He’s a special talent. There’s not many guys like that, especially in the interior”, he told reporters yesterday, via the team’s website when asked about his upcoming assignment. “He’s one of the best probably of all time”.
As one of only two players in NFL history (along with J.J. Watt) to be named a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, that’s fair to say. In fact, Donald has made at least the Pro Bowl in every season. Only in his rookie year, when he was the Defensive Rookie of the Year, and last season, when he missed six games, did he fail to also make the All-Pro list. And of the eight times he made it, all were on the first team.
With 105.5 career sacks and 168 tackles for loss, Donald is one of the most disruptive interior defensive linemen to ever play the game. And Pittsburgh faithful know all about what he can do as an alumnus for the Panthers who regularly stops back in the area.
As for Cole, this won’t be his first rodeo against Donald, having begun his career in the NFC West with the Arizona Cardinals. His teams went 0-6 against Los Angeles while he was there, including four games in which he started, among them a 34-0 shutout in his second career game.
“I was in their division for a few years early in my career, so I got to play him a handful of times and got to know that defense and his personality on the field”, he told reporters. “It’ll be a fun challenge for us”.
A challenge? Certainly. Fun? Unlikely. Guards Isaac Seumalo and James Daniels have both played against Donald at least a few times in their careers, so at least they are familiar with the degree of difficulty of the assignment.
But this isn’t an offense that has “fun” very often, quite frankly, and especially not against one of the greatest defensive players to ever put on an NFL uniform. I suspect Donald will be in the backfield on Sunday about as often as Jaylen Warren.
