Getty Aaron Donald hits Carson Wentz of the Indianapolis Colts during the Rams' Week 2 road win.
Aaron Donald has already gone after his former Los Angeles Rams teammate Jared Goff ahead of Sunday’s reunion game in Inglewood.
Via text messaging, that is.
Donald revealed to the L.A. media on Thursday following Rams practice that he is in communication with the former Ram who was “A.D’s” teammate from 2016 to 2020 before getting traded to the Detroit Lions.
“I’ve been texting him this week, just cracking jokes here and there,” Donald said. “We’re going to do our job and get after them and trying to have some success.”
But Donald has fired his warning shot to Goff — albeit a playful one by his standards.
“I told him ‘get ready.’ And I told him I’m going to be coming after him,” Donald said smiling, which can be heard near the 2:40 mark of the post practice presser video below. “So he knows what it is.”
But what was the ex-Ram’s response in cellular wording?
“He said something funny back, but that’s between us though,” Donald said.
Donald has Dominated Versus Lions
Sunday’s game will obviously be Donald’s first time going against Goff in an NFL regular season setting. However, it’ll be the fourth time he’ll face the Lions.
And Donald has put up dominating numbers against the NFC North visitors. Here’s how he’s fared in his past meetings against Detroit:
- 2015: Donald sacked his future Rams teammate Matthew Stafford three times in the Rams’ 21-14 road win on December 13. Donald also delivered six QB hits, collected five tackles including four solo stops and produced three stops behind the line of scrimmage.
- 2016: This time, Stafford and the Lions exacted revenge against Donald and the Rams — winning 31-28 on October 16. Donald was held to one sack, plus finished with four solo tackles, two tackles for a loss and two QB hits.
- 2018: Two years later, Donald guided the Rams’ defense to a 30-16 win on December 2. “A.D” pummeled ball carries four times behind the line of scrimmage and tacked on two more sacks, giving him 6.0 career sacks versus the Lions.
Do the Lions have a masterful plan to slow down Donald? And prevent him from doing what he jokingly told Goff he was going to do via text?
What the Lions’ OC Plans for his Line
Detroit offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn is the man preparing for Goff and the Lions’ game plan to counter Donald and the Rams.
He knows that Donald is not someone who will stay in one spot.
“Aaron Donald, they just move him to so many different places,” Lynn said Thursday via the Detroit Free Press. “He is not a stationary target, so our protection system is going to have to be very sound this week, and we cannot let him wreck the game, because he can wreck the game.”
So what’s the plan in slowing down a man who is one sack away from his 90th career sack? Lynn points to double teams from what his end quote suggests.
“There’s going to come some times when we are going to be one-on-one with him and we’ve got to get the job done,” Lynn said. “But you want to put four hands on him as much as possible.”
Donald and the Ram defense will face a Lions front line that’s surrendered 12 sacks already this season. In all likelihood, Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris will aim to test Lions rookie Penei Sewell with Donald. Per Pro Football Focus, Sewell has allowed the most sacks on the Lions with four. Meanwhile, the opposite tackle Matt Nelson has allowed the most QB pressures (21) his side and has given up the second most sacks on the line at two.
Donald does plan to meet up with Goff after the game. But once the texting stops on Sunday afternoon, Donald will be all business.
“I’m going to go out there and fly around, trying to make my plays when they present themselves,” Donald said. “Hopefully I get to him a couple of times.”