49ers Samuel has LA Rams DT Aaron Donald’s full attention now

Staley has his first ‘rematch’

So far this season, the LA Rams defense has been incredible in the second half of games. That is a pretty stark contrast to the almost average way the Rams defense has played in the first half of most contests. It almost seems as though the Rams need to evaluate what the opposing offense is throwing at them, and then going out to neutralize that in the second half. Whatever the course, the Rams have done a great job.

In this one, defensive coordinator Brandon Staley has a chance to examine a full game of an opposing offense and try to counter what they did in a second rematch. This is a critical rematch, as the Rams will have a chance to demonstrate if they truly learn from past games, or if their defense has an as-yet-undetermined ceiling.

Don’t piss off Donald

For my money, I’m willing to trust the Rams making better deployment of All-Pro assets on defense like Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey. Both are NFL stars, and it’s clear that Aaron Donald is incredibly focused for this one. A similar focus for Donald occurred when untested ESPN metrics suggested that Aaron Donald was only average against the run before the Rams faced the Dallas Cowboys.

Yes, Aaron Donald promises to ‘show them how we play’.  That’s not an empty promise. He destroyed the entire Dallas Cowboys offensive line when it was a healthy as it has been all season.  Now, the San Francisco 49ers can that their WR Deebo Samuel for provoking Donald into another statement game.