WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – Most, if not all, of Rams defensive end Aaron Donald's feats on a football field leave observers in awe, whether it be teammates, coaches, fans or analysts.
One this past Sunday against the Chargers did, too, but for a different reason.
After outside linebacker Wesley Bailey's strip-sack on Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, Donald somehow failed to collect the football with his hands as it was bouncing toward the sideline.
It should have been an easy scoop-and-score. Instead, Donald laid flat on his back on the turf in lifeless disappointment – teammate Braden Fiske jokingly performed CPR on him to revive him – at the missed opportunity.
"I saw the ball and the first thing that came to my head, touchdown. I'm going to get this ball," Donald said Thursday. "I should have slowed down, but I felt people behind me and I was like I don't want to get hit in my back, that's going to hurt. So, I tried to go full speed and scoop it. I thought the ball was going to bounce this way, but it bounced that way. I looked damn silly. I was like, 'Ah.' Then I hit the ball out, and I just laid there (like) I can't believe I just did that."
"It was funny, I told him I have a whole reel of clips of guys over the years that you sink your hips and scoop and score. And he was causing every fumble doing it," defensive coordinator Chris Shula said. "And I was going to show it in camp, but it was the week he was about to come back. So I was like, I don't want to show him causing all these fumbles. So I told him I get to add him to the reel, but just on the other side of it."
"I saw what he was thinking because it's going right in front of you and he's thinking, 'I'm going to scoop and score,'" head coach Sean McVay said postgame. "Then he knocks that ... out of bounds. I mean, what the hell?"
"His face, he couldn't even look at me and make eye contact after that. But at least we can laugh about it right now."
Donald can be forgiven, especially when he had another play on Sunday – and several others over the last three weeks – that have made up for it. He tackled Chargers running back Kimani Vidal in the backfield for a 4-yard loss. And more broadly, Donald has posted a double-digit pressure rate (per Next Gen Stats) in three of his last four games. His impact is still clearly being felt.
Add to that the opportunity to practice alongside outside linebacker Myles Garrett, who returned to practice this week, and potentially play alongside him this Sunday (Garrett's status for Sunday against Commanders is still to be determined).
If and when Garrett returns, a reporter asked Donald, does Donald anticipate that will free him up a little more from opponents' blocking schemes?
"I'm pretty sure! I mean, the guy did have 20-something sacks last year," a smiling Donald said. "But I'm going to go out there and just play, we're all going to just play. If Myles is 100% ready to go and he plays this week, that's going to be amazing for us, great, because it's like I've said, it's always good when we get all the pieces to the puzzle out there."
Donald and the rest of the Rams' defensive front will have their hands full anyways this week trying to contain Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, whose mobility and arm talent powered 199 passing yards and 109 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in a 27-27 overtime tie with the Giants four weeks ago.
"We've got a good gameplan, we've been talking about it," Donald said. "Cleaning up some things up front that we can do better, playing off each other, to not allow him to gash us and hurt us. I'm pretty sure he's gonna get a couple plays here and there, but as long as we keep him contained, keep him in the pocket, not let him get them big rush lanes where he can take advantage of, we'll be fine. But great football player, dynamic quarterback, and we just gotta find ways to affect him."
Turnovers like the fumble return for a touchdown Donald just missed out on would help that cause. Had he come through, he would've had his first career touchdown.
Coincidentally, or not, Donald was at the front of the line leading a drill mimicking scooping up a fumble during Thursday's practice.
"Yeah, that was my drill. I needed that. I needed that," Donald said, laughing. "Learn bending, getting down, so when the opportunity presents itself again, I take advantage of it."
Whether it was Garrett laughing hard at the moment from the exercise bike on the sideline, the hard times given by coaches and other teammates, or even his older brother calling him and telling him he couldn't believe Donald missed his first touchdown, Donald can laugh about all of it because it didn't negatively affect the outcome of the game for the Rams.
"It's all fun and games because we won, but if it was a different situation and we didn't win, it'd be a lot worse," Donald said. "So just got to keep working, keep getting better at the little things, and not let stuff like that happen."
