Los Angeles Rams: 3 Grades for Week 7 against the 49ers

It’s been a fair criticism that the Los Angeles Rams defense has been good, but not great. It’s also a fair criticism that the run defense hasn’t been as good as expected and that quarterbacks can throw on the Rams pass defenders.

But that was not the case yesterday. The Los Angeles defense was about as good as fans have been saying they were without the necessary credentials over the first seven games to back up such praise.

That said, the 2017 NFL Defensive Player of the Year was simply outstanding against a 49ers offense that went toe-to-toe with Aaron Rodgers and the Packers just six days earlier.

With nearly a quarter of football still to play on Sunday afternoon, Aaron Donald had the kind of stat line that did more than impress, it effectively shut down the Niners offense. He had seven tackles, three sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, four tackles for a loss, and three hits on quarterback C.J. Beathard.

That’s a very good day.

It’s also timely as the road forward for Donald and his defense gets significantly tougher as far as quarterback talent to be faced.

Over the next two weeks, the Rams defense will see Rodgers, and then Drew Brees on the road. They’ll also get another shot at Russell Wilson, and Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes, as well as Matthew Stafford, and Carson Wentz.

But for Week 7 Donald was about as good as you can get.

Aaron Donald – A plus.