Donald turns 30, continues to close in on more Rams records
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — No matter how many sacks Aaron Donald racks up, he doesn’t stop thinking about the quarterbacks who got away.
Donald’s first game in his 30s last Sunday looked like most of his performances from his 20s for the Los Angeles Rams. The most dominant defensive lineman of the previous seven NFL seasons harassed the Bears’ entire offense, constantly drawing double teams and altering Chicago’s game plan in the Rams’ season-opening 34-14 victory.
Donald essentially ended the Rams’ blowout win by sacking Andy Dalton on fourth down with 2:18 to play. But that moment faded from his mind in comparison to a play earlier in the fourth quarter in which Dalton escaped his grasp, only to run into a sack by linebacker Justin Hollins.
“I don’t know what was going on,” Donald said with a grimace Thursday. “I was letting plays just slip out of my hands. I’ve been working on my grip all week, making sure that everything will be good. I changed my gloves. They’re not getting away no more. I missed the play, but (Hollins) cleaned it up. I was more disappointed in myself, but happy for him.”
As Donald closes in on the Rams’ career sacks record this week when the Rams visit Indianapolis (0-1), the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year shows zero signs of slippage after 30.
Donald leads the NFL in sacks since his rookie season with 86½, although he’s barely holding off Chandler Jones (84½) after the Arizona star’s five-sack opener. Donald also leads the league in tackles for loss (132) by a wide margin during his career.
With one more sack, he will tie Leonard Little for the Rams’ franchise record — although the record books don’t officially count the prolific career of Hall of Famer Deacon Jones, who played for Los Angeles from 1961 to 1971 and coined the phrase “sack the quarterback.”
Perhaps even more impressively, Donald is attempting to complete a remarkable achievement this Sunday: He is just beginning his eighth NFL season, but he already has a sack against every team except the Colts.
The Rams have faced Indy only once during his career, and Donald didn’t play in that 2017 game because he ended his contract holdout earlier that day, which also happened to be Sean Mcvay’s coaching debut.