Offensive coordinators have had a difficult time scheming for defensive tackle Aaron Donald since he entered the league in 2014.
The three-time defensive player of the year has continued his disruptive ways this season, becoming the Rams’ official all-time leader in sacks when he took down Russell Wilson in Week Five.
Then he helped lead to cornerback Jalen Ramsey’s game-sealing interception in the fourth quarter of last week’s win over Detroit when he pressured and hit former teammate Jared Goff in the red zone.
But as the Texans gear up to play the Rams this week, head coach David Culley wants to keep Donald from completely messing up their game plan. He said in his Wednesday press conference that Houston “won’t have one-on-one battles with him most of the day. We’ll have two blocking him most of the time.”
“He’s one of the top two or three defensive guys in the game at his position, has been since he came into the league. Nothing has changed,” Culley said. “Obviously, we are not going to allow him to wreck our game. So obviously, if you put one-on-one situations on him, it doesn’t matter who is he against, he usually wins those battles.”
Though teams try to keep multiple blockers on Donald, Los Angeles’ defense often moves him around the line of scrimmage to get him in one-on-one situations.
In seven games this season, Donald has 3.5 sacks, five tackles for loss, 10 quarterback hits, three pass breakups, and a forced fumble.
Many have tried to not let Donald wreck a game. We’ll see on Sunday if Houston can accomplish that mission.