SF has tough test in DT Donald
Garoppolo in line to start against LA, league’s sack leader
Aaron Donald might be the best thing that happens to the 49ers offense.
Yes, the NFL’s very own sack leader. If his presence does not wake up the 49ers’ offense to fortify its trenches, then what? Then the 49ers won’t have any shot at keeping pace with the Los Angeles Rams in what’s been a biannual shootout between these NFC West counterparts.
If they neutralize Donald— or “mitigate” his dangers, as is this season’s trendy word — perhaps the 49ers (23) emerge with their first home win in four tries this season.
“He’s as tough as it gets to game plan for,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Wednesday. “I mean, he’s as good as it gets in the pass game, and as good in the run game as there is.
“You don’t know where he’s going to be. He’s all over.”
Knowing where Donald is coming from is paramount to protecting Jimmy Garoppolo, whose limitations with an ankle injury got him benched at halftime of Sunday’s loss to the Miami Dolphins. Garoppolo returned to practice Wednesday and is poised to start against the Rams (4-1).
Like last game, Garoppolo may not be at full strength, but he’s still a better option than a stock- dropping backup, be it Nick Mullens or C. J. Beathard. Hence, Sunday’s storyline is not so much who is at quarterback but rather who is coming after him: Donald.
Donald had four sacks in Sunday’s win over Washington to douse Alex Smith’s sentimental comeback. That won Donald the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Week honor, and it
matched his career-high sacks froman October 2018 win over the 49ers.
This marks Donald’s 100th career game. He has 79½ career sacks, including 11½ against the 49ers. That is a lot for any defensive lineman, much less one who primarily lines up on the interior but can slide anywhere to cause chaos.
Left guard Laken Tomlinson has been battling Donald since college, when theywere at Duke and Pittsburgh, respectively. Tomlinson has not had a clean season thus far, but no lineman has, even though the 49ers have started the same five each game in what should yield better consistency and communication.
“People have to get on the right people,” Shanahan said. “When you’re not on right guy, you hope thereare enough out there you can get rid of the ball and not take a sack.”
The 49ers have allowed 18 sacks through five games; Garoppolo got sacked 36 times in 16 starts last year.