St. Louis Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald has been named VAVEL USA NFL Defensive Player of the Week. Several VAVEL NFL writers voted and Donald came out on top for his incredible performance against the defending two-time NFC Champions, the Seattle Seahawks. Donald’s statline is as follows:
9 tackles, 2 sacks, three tackles for loss.
Donald’s biggest play however, came on the very last play of the game. The Rams and Seahawks were in overtime and the Rams got the ball first, and managed to get a field goal. On the Seahawks ensuing drive, they drove the ball down to the St. Louis 41-yard line and were faced with a 4th & 1.
The Seahawks were in shotgun formation and Russell Wilson handed the ball to Marshawn Lynch. Aaron Donald defeated the block of Seahawks left guard Justin Britt and along with fellow defensive tackle Michael Brockers brought down Lynch in the backfield, ending the game and giving the Rams the win. When asked what Rams head coach Jeff Fisher saw on the play, he said “(No.) 99 in the backfield. Like I said, if you put one guy on him, you’re asking for trouble. (No.) 99 is a special player. There’s no limit for him if he realizes the true potential he has to be a great player.”
Donald’s big performance comes as no surprise as Fisher had high praise for Donald when asked about the Rams six sacks on Russell Wilson: “Of course we want to start fast. We’re definitely far from last year. We don’t want to start like that. The guys got on a roll, we kind of got our energy and the guys are feeling great. So once we started getting back there, we just try to stay consistent. ‘A.D.’ (Rams DT Aaron Donald) started it off and after that, guys just tried to follow him. We’ve got a special guy in (No.) 99 so I guess we just need to follow his lead.”
Aaron Donald was drafted 13th overall by the Rams in 2014 and had an impressive year, totaling 47 tackles, nine sacks, and two forced fumbles en route to being named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year for the 2014-15 season. He's bound for another big season in 2015 as it was shown on Sunday against the Seahawks.