From tears to trades: How Aaron Donald lit a fire in LA Rams organization

The final score of the LA Rams loss to the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Rounds of the NFL Playoffs shone like a lighthouse on the scoreboard:

Los Angeles Rams    18
Green Bay Packers    32

It was a long game for Aaron Donald, a game that in all likelihood he probably shouldn’t have played. Time had no claim on the football field. But at the end, when it was all over and the Packers had the euphoric rush of adrenaline in advancing to the NFC Championship game, all 18 games and every ache, nick, bump and bruise flooded Donald’s mind. He was sore. He was tired. Most of all, he was disappointed to be denied once more.

Tears came rushing in, filling his eyes. Warriors like Aaron Donald do not walk off a football field with anything left in their gas tank. He was on fumes, and the energy of his emotions got the best of him.  This was a moment where the only answer was emotion. There are no words, no actions to move from that spot.

Another season, another disappointment. And yet, the scoreboard was still there proclaiming to the NFL and to the world that the LA Rams would need to go home, regroup, and try again.  This was Aaron Donald’s seventh NFL season. Would his eighth season end differently? His ninth?

Or would the LA Rams fail to deliver on the promises of such a talented roster, and eventually the forces of the NFL that buoy bad teams and drag down good teams finally for the team to rebuild from the foundation and try again?

A quick shooting pain reminded Donald that he was not healed.

The impossible dream?

If he was a lesser man, he wouldn’t have suited up. But he is not just a man, he is Aaron Donald, one of the greatest NFL professional football players. That is not just lip service, but rather a mindset. The team would never have questioned him if he had admitted to not being able to go. But he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he let his team, his coaches, his brothers, down.

And yet, the scoreboard did not waiver. The final score was final. Despite playing through injured ribs, despite the best defense in the NFL, the LA Rams lost a game on the anything-but-frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.

The Rams certainly had an uphill battle to win the game. Not only was Aaron Donald injured, but the team faced the Packers without wide receiver Cooper Kupp. Even starting quarterback Jared Goff, injured just three weeks earlier and requiring surgery to the thumb of his throwing hand, was not 100 percent. All of that and facing the Packers on their home field, after the Packers had a week to rest up and heal for the game.

Still, the Rams were within a touchdown when they got the ball on their own six-yard line with 13 minutes remaining. The game was on the line and the offense appeared to respond with the makings of an offensive drive.  But Jared Goff struck too many plays on short-range, allowing the Packers defensive to find the range. First an incomplete pass, then a sack, then a short-yardage completion that had no chance of moving the chains.  With 9:53 remaining in the game, the LA Rams were done.

Sean McVay looked up to the scoreboard. The Rams’ offense failed to score when the fatigued defense needed them to do so.

Q4  Time remaining: 9:53

Los Angeles Rams     18
Green Bay Packers     25

McVay watched helplessly from the sidelines and the Packers pushed the defense and the football down the field for the final touchdown of the game. He knew from the flow and momentum that his team missed a chance to claim a win. But he knew that his quarterback Jared Goff was a wild card. Either Goff would air it out in the game, but make ridiculously bad errors of judgment and turn over the ball. Or Goff would secure the football, but end up being nothing more than a glorified game manager. Sean McVay pondered that for a moment as the game ended. Then he noticed All-Pro Aaron Donald’s frustration at another loss streaming down his face.

Sean McVay made up his mind. The Rams had to act quickly and decisively.

Lit a fire in the LA Rams organization

The coaching staff and front office knew that the team had to find some way to upgrade their quarterback position. But with no first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and no clear free agent who could lead the team to the promised land on the horizon, the Rams found themselves at an impasse.

Perhaps if the team could instill that same level of frustration and angst in such a way as to force Goff on the path to improvement? The team laid down their edict: The team would compete at every position in 2021.

Even as the Rams pondered how to improve at quarterback, the Detroit Lions and veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford agreed to part ways. The Lions were about to undertake their umpteenth rebuild, and that did not appeal to Matthew Stafford in the least. His epiphany had come much earlier when the Lions (5-11) lost to the Minnesota Vikings (7-9) in Detroit.

Stafford realized that his career was in a death spiral. If he didn’t land on a competitive team soon, he would have nothing to offer.

And so, the Lions placed Matthew Stafford on the trade block. The random chance to land such an accomplished quarterback was a Godsend to the desperate LA Rams organization. Head coach Sean McVay was so convinced that this was the team’s only chance, he personally lobbied team owner Stan Kroenke for the authorization to sweeten the offer to the Lions.

Of course, you know that story. The Rams traded for Matthew Stafford.

One final piece

The 2021 NFL season opened with the LA Rams offense delivering on all cylinders. The team was able to score almost at will, from nearly any point on the football field, and required almost no time on the clock to do so.  Whatever was broken before, appeared to be repaired and humming in perfect working condition now.

But the LA Rams defense, the strongest part of the 2020 team, showed signs of neglect. Due to a shortage of cash, the team was forced to watch as a host of valuable contributors signed on elsewhere as NFL Free Agents for significant sums of money.

To ‘make do’, the team had to turn to younger players, drafted late, to develop quickly and take on starting and rotational roles for the team. But even as talented as they were, they are still young and raw. Football is less instinctive and more thought process, allowing for momentary lapses on the field, and creating vulnerabilities to be exploited by good teams in the win-or-go-home NFL Playoffs.

So far, the LA Rams defense is the 21st-ranked defense in yards allowed, but the 10th-ranked defense in terms of points allowed.  The Rams have faced the second-most passes of any NFL team, allowing just nine touchdowns and recording 11 interceptions. But even as opposing offenses have opted to pass against the Rams, the reason is simple. With few exceptions, the Rams offense forces opponents to pass to try to keep pace.

Teams with mobile quarterbacks give the Rams defense the most trouble. Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback Kyler Murray outright defeated the Rams by scoring 38 points. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz gave the defense fits, losing by a margin of just two points. He ran for 37 yards against the Rams in just five carries.

With Von Miller, the Rams plan to do a much better job of containing elusive quarterbacks. They certainly have a better chance of doing so, with Leonard Floyd, Von Miller, and Aaron Donald in a position to sack the quarterback, who will offensive lines choose to double team?  The answer to that question will give the answer to which of the three will terrorize the passer on any given play.

"“I love this guy (Aaron Donald). And this guy is as much motivation as anybody for why, if we don’t win a Super Bowl — if this guy doesn’t get one — then shame on me.” – Rams head coach Sean McVay per an  interview with Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic (subscription required)"

Whether Coach McVay personally witnessed those tears streaming down Aaron Donald’s face on Lambeau Field or learned later from social media is really not the point. The fact is that Aaron Donald lit a fire in the LA Rams organization in a way he had not done so before: Through the strength of his tears.

From those tears to two blockbuster trades. Before you judge this team too harshly about going All In and shedding more draft picks, I ask you to consider this. Would you rather add All-Pro players to this roster to win now at a fraction of their salary cost? Or keep the picks, and in the process, fail to give the best contributor on this team anything to make him believe that this organization can win it all?