Colts' OC To Game Plan Around Rams' Star Defender 'As Much As You Can'
Many have tried it, yet few have succeeded when it comes to trying to game plan an offensive scheme to combat the all-around talent that is Los Angeles Rams' star defensive tackle and future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald.
Indianapolis Colts' offensive coordinator Marcus Brady will be the latest to give the seemingly-impossible task a go on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Coming off of a week in which the Colts' offensive line struggled to open running lanes for Jonathan Taylor and protect Carson Wentz in the pocket, the matchup gets that much tougher in Week 2 against the visiting Rams and a fast, physical defense led by Donald in the trenches.
Donald alone, regardless of the other pieces the Rams posses on defense, makes them a tough defense to scheme against, according to Brady.
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“Aaron Donald is an elite defender, very good at what he does, his ability to beat o-linemen," Brady said to reporters Tuesday. "Just like any other team, you figure out what their strengths are and obviously he’s one of their strengths on defense and then you try to game plan around it where potentially you try to get some double teams when you can. Sometimes the front calls it where you can’t, but you try to as much as you can.”
Teams have certainly tried to negate Donald with scheme, but it simply hasn't worked.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that they know what that guy can do," Brady added.
In Week 1 against the Chicago Bears, Donald recorded a sack of Andy Dalton and added three tackles, earning an 81.4 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, including a pass rush grade of 90.7.
Now, Donald gets to square off against the best guard in football in Colts' star Quenton Nelson, making for the marquee matchup within the matchup across the NFL on Sunday.
That said, Donald will move around often in search of mismatches in the trenches. On paper, the Colts appear to be capable of handling Donald inside, but the unit as a whole is coming off of a rough Week 1 performance against a Seattle front seven that isn't as talented as the Rams.
“You do have to scheme for him. Every team schemes for a player like Aaron Donald. You can’t scheme for him on every play because he’s not at the same spot every play," Colts' head coach Frank Reich said Wednesday. "You can switch things, but if you look at 2020, he was 50 percent on the left and 50 percent on the right. So it’s not as easy as just saying he’s going to be over Q (Quenton Nelson) or he’s going to be over Glow (Mark Glowinski). He moves around. When they have a player like that, they are going to try and put him in different positions. We have to scheme it up, we have to be able to adapt. We have to be able to make some in-game adjustments, which we’re prepared to do. Then at some point you’re not going to be able to get him schemed up on every play. Then at that time, exactly what you said, you have to hold up.”
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Holding up will be the challenge against the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, ticketing him for a first-ballot Hall of Fame induction.
The Colts should be able to hold up against a dominant defensive tackle for the most part on Sunday, simply due to practicing against their own game-wrecking defensive tackle each and every day, according to Brady.
“It is an advantage, having a guy like (DeForest) Buckner who causes problems in the interior, as does Aaron Donald," Brady said. "We had to kind of scheme a little bit of that in training camp during competitive periods. We kind of used some of what we did during training camp going into this game.”
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While this is certainly not training camp and Buckner is not Donald, having the chance to work on some things to try and negate a game-wrecking defensive tackle throughout the summer should help the Colts get up to speed quickly this week from a preparation standpoint.
Execution is another thing.
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