Rams' Aaron Donald Encouraged by the Growth of His Counterpart, Sebastian Joseph-Day
The Rams had a big media day on Thursday where coordinators and players got to speak with reporters about practice, the road ahead, or even their teammates. Aaron Donald had the chance to touch on Sebastian Joseph-Day, who's played alongside him on the defensive line for three seasons now. Joseph-Day, who's largely known for his run-stopping efforts, has anchored the middle of the defensive line in each of the Rams' first seven games thus far. He currently holds possession of 38 total tackles (23 solo) with three sacks and is a key component of the Rams' defense.
Donald surely has noticed his early-season success and complimented him as such:
“He’s just stout," Donald said. "He's the big guy in the middle helping us set everything upfront and has been making a lot of things happen in the run game. That’s just who Bash has been. I think he’s been doing a good job of rushing the passer this season, too. So, him transitioning and becoming more of an overall football player, it’s good to see his growth.”
As Donald eluded too, Joseph-Day has shown notable steps in getting after the passer and bringing down quarterbacks in becoming a more complete player. While Joseph-Day's skill set remains more suited in stopping the run, he's already eclipsed a career-high figure in sacks through the Rams' first seven games of the season.
Joseph-Day has been ruled out for Sunday's game against the Texans after being held out of practice all week due to a chest injury, per the injury report. Despite this, Donald like's what he's seeing from Joseph-Day and other teammates along the defensive line.
“Greg (Gaines) has been out there playing," Donald said. "We trust him to step up and make plays if Bash (Joseph-Day) doesn’t play. Bash is trying to find ways to get himself together. (He’s) getting some cardio (in), making sure he's good if he is up. We got guys that (are) going to step up and fill the slot if need be.”
The Rams currently rank No. 15 against the run, allowing 111.9 rushing yards per game. That's a big drop off of where the team was last year when they ranked No. 4 with an average of 99.1 rushing yards against per game. It's going to have to get close to last year's number if L.A. wants to continue winning football games as they've heavily relied on a 'bend but don't break' approach.
Surely, it's great how electric the offense has played thus far, but if the run defense can't improve, it's going to be hard to continue to ask the offensive unit to bail them out each time.
Sunday's contest against the Texans will feature some of the Rams' depth pieces stepping in for the injured Joseph-Day, but this should be a very winnable matchup for L.A.
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