How the Giants Can Try to Slow Down Aaron Donald
Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald has one of the most recognizable names in all of pro football.
With good reason. The 29-year-old Donald has been one of the most dangerous defensive interior players, a man who offers a rare combination of strength, power, and a quick first step that has not only blown up numerous running plays that have come his way, but which has also lead to 75.0 career sacks.
“Aaron Donald is one of the best players in the NFL, and he’s definitely a force,” said Giants head coach Joe Judge.
“A lot of times, you see those guys that are game-wreckers on the edge, and they have their share of them out there as well.
But with Aaron in the middle, it makes you be a little more creative in terms of how you protect and how you use some different tools in your toolbox to make sure your guys don’t always get isolated on him.”
How can the Giants try to slow Donald down? Well, don’t be surprised if Judge and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett rip a page out of the New England Patriots’ playbook from Super Bowl LIII.
In that game, the Patriots used Donald’s strengths against him to run for 154 yards on 32 carries and one touchdown in a winning effort while limiting Donald to just five tackles in that game (none for a loss) and only one quarterback hit.
The Patriots did two things to slow Donald down. The first was they ran several double-team blocks featuring the center and the guard, who managed to stonewall Donald successfully.
The Patriots then ran directly at Donald once he was neutralized, often for positive yardage, such as this 26-yard fourth-quarter run by Sony Michel.
Now, it would be impractical for the Giants to run at Donald all game long, so another thing they could probably borrow from the Patriots’ playbook is a tactic aimed at using Donald’s quick first step against him.
In those instances where Donald is left one-on-one, the Giants would be best served to run away from Donald by using a draw or a misdirection play that attempts to catch Donald going in the wrong direction.
“It’s gonna take a lot of execution and, you know, a lot of fundamentally and being fundamentally sound when this ball game comes Sunday,” said center Nick Gates, who added that Donald is one of the best players he’s going to face this year.
Gates, who's looking forward to the challenge, is hoping that he'll be able to bring an intangible in his matchup against Donald that not a lot of centers have.
"Having length and being able to use your length and knowing how use your length helps you," Gates said.
"I’m excited. I like going up against good players, it makes you better. It teaches you what you need to work on and what you’re good at, things like that.
"Aaron Donald, he’s the best player I have ever gone up against. Just try to take it snap by snap, get a good game plan for him, and see how it goes."
(Clip via NFL Game Pass.)
