L.A. Rams focused on bottling up Cowboys game wrecker Ezekiel Elliott

Rams focused on bottling up Cowboys game wrecker Ezekiel Elliott

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Aaron Donald was not interested in revisiting last season’s 44-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, when they rolled up 263 rushing yards on his defense.

Ezekiel Elliott (117) and backup Tony Pollard (131) rushed for over 100 yards.

“Well, that’s last year,” Donald said. “We aren’t going to talk about last year.”

But Donald also understands the Rams have to figure out what went wrong in that game in order to fix it, so it doesn’t happen again on Sunday.

Of course, the Rams have a new defensive coordinator in Brandon Staley, so they will have a defensive scheme in place when they face the Rams’ vaunted run game n season opener at SoFi Stadium.

But don’t tell the Cowboys.

“Just say, ‘It’s going to be the same,’” joked Donald. “So, they think that. It’s the same exact defense, we’re doing the same exact things. Nothing has changed at all. Nothing. The same stuff you’ve seen, that’s what you’re going to get, write that (laughs).”

Staley has watched last year’s performance by his new defense on tape. A protégé of longtime NFL defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, Staley was the outside linebackers coach for the Denver Broncos last season when they held teams to 111 rushing yards a contest.

The Rams allowed five, 100-yard rushers last season. Elliott totaled 1,357 rushing yards last season (No. 4 in the NFL), averaging 4.5 rushing yards a contest.

It’s safe to say that the Rams will be using some run defense concepts Staley gleaned from his time in Denver. He chalks up the Rams’ poor performance last season against Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys to a bad day at the office.

“Day’s like that happen in the NFL to everybody,” Staley said. “But I think that with the Cowboys, they’re a line of scrimmage team and that’s where the game is going to be decided -- at the line of scrimmage. It starts with playing really physical at the point of attack, setting edges, and then being able to tackle.

“You’ve got to kill blocks and then, you ultimately got to tackle. They’ve got a lot of weapons, a lot of people that can hurt you with the ball in their hands. It’s not just the runner, it’s the quarterback. (RB Tony) Pollard's an outstanding runner. They’ve got receivers that are really good after the catch, they’ve got tight ends with size, so they’ve got a very complete offensive football team and we’re going to have to be a really fundamentally sound defense on Sunday night.”

Donald says the Rams have to have a game plan to tackle Elliott on a consistent basis so he doesn’t wreck the game.

"He’s just a strong running back,” Donald said. “He can do it all. So, you just got to make sure you try to bottle him up the best way you can. Not let him get started, because if you let anybody get in the groove, it'll be a long day for you.

“It’s trying to do our job to slow him down, make his day hard. Because if we make his day hard, that’s going make our day easy. We just got to do our jobs.”