Rams DT Aaron Donald Moving on From Early-Season Loss vs. 49ers: 'Past is the Past'
Los Angeles Rams star defensive tackle Aaron Donald made headlines Tuesday when he announced that he’d be leaving Donda Sports following recent antisemitic comments by rap superstar Kanye West.
He's standing firm with his decision and leaving it in the past. And as he shifts his focus back toward football and Sunday's matchup at home against the San Francisco 49ers, he's putting the past behind him as well against a team that has been LA's Achilles' heal in recent seasons.
The Rams were embarrassed 24-9 by the Niners on Monday Night Football on Oct. 3. It marked the eighth straight time LA has lost to San Francisco in the regular season. The Rams beat the Niners 20-17 in last year's NFC Championship, but have nothing to show for against their rivals aside from that.
“The past is the past," Donald said Thursday. "Obviously, they got us the first game this year. I felt like the first time we faced them this year (there) was one or two plays that we wish we would’ve got back, eliminates being able to have to say that. So, that's on us as a defense."
The Rams' defense gave up two long touchdowns to Niners running back Jeff Wilson and star receiver Deebo Samuel. Wilson's 32-yard touchdown saw him burst through the Donald-led front basically untouched while Samuel's 57-yard catch-and-run touchdown simultaneously a highlight and low-light at this point in the season, as he broke multiple poor tackle attempts before finding his way into the end zone.
The defense was hardly to blame for the loss, as the offense posted just nine points. But it's certainly a game the Rams would like to forget while getting back to the root of what's worked previously.
Said Donald: "It's about just playing good football for four quarters, finding a way to win a game, being stout in the run, obviously getting out (of) the stack in certain screens, tackling, wrapping up, little things that we can do to correct that. If we know what we got to do, we got to swarm, we got to tackle and if we do that, we'll be fine.”
The Rams and Niners kickoff from SoFi Stadium on Sunday at 1:25 p.m. PT.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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