The Los Angeles Rams have been playing some great football this season. Their defense was a particular highlight, and how can it not be when the Rams’ decorated defensive tackle Aaron Donald was in it.
A Full Trophy Cabinet
Donald is up there with the best defensive players in NFL history and will definitely be inducted to the Hall of Fame when he finishes his playing career. He has also been voted as the Defensive Player of the Year three times and was included in eight Pro Bowl selections.
Donald is also a seven-time first-team All-Pro and was part of the 2010s NFL decade team. Of course, he also won the Defensive Rookie of the Year award in 2014. Players get only one chance at winning that title, and Donald has been at the top of his game from the first minute he set foot on an NFL field.
One Thing is Missing
However, there is one award that is missing, and it is a massive one – the Super Bowl. Even though Aaron Donald has been destroying opposition quarterbacks for eight years now, he is yet to win the NFL’s ultimate piece of silverware.
That’s why Donald is putting all his focus on getting his hands on the Vince Lombardy trophy this season. To do that, though, the LA Rams will have to defeat the San Francisco 49ers first.
If Donald’s pre-game comments are anything to go by, the defensive tackle is more than ready to right that wrong. Speaking before the NFC championship game against the 49ers, Donald said that games like the one on Sunday were what you were working for.
In the official team transcript, Donald was quoted as saying that the Rams had been trying to find a way to win the Super Bowl but there was always some hurdle they couldn’t clear.
However, with only a divisional opponent separating them from the biggest game in the NFL, the defensive tackle felt that the Rams’ time to reach the Super Bowl has finally come.
The 30-year old is aware that playing against the 49ers will be tough, pointing to the fact that they had their number the past couple of times they played them. However, Donald also stressed that they were getting ready for these games since the start of the off-season, so it was great to finally get there and show what they could do.
Teammates Want to Win It for Donald
The Rams know that Donald is probably the one player in their roster that deserves a Super Bowl the most, so they will be doing everything in their power to make that happen.
Raheem Morris, the Rams’ defensive coordinator said that everyone in the building wanted to win that ring for Donald and to add “more mystique to his legacy.”
The Rams’ outside linebacker, Von Miller, knows what it takes to win the Super Bowl, as he has one from his days in Denver. He said that he will do his best to help his teammates, and Aaron Donald in particular, win that ring. He added that Donald was only one trophy away from “the whole shebang,” and that he wanted to win a ring for him, but also for Eric Weddle, Andrew Whitworth, and all the other Rams’ veterans.
When Donald goes out on the field on Sunday, he will join Lawrence Taylor as the only player who has won the Defensive Player of the Year three times and also appeared in a conference championship game. If he matches Taylor, and wins the NFC championship fight and then the Super Bowl, he will finally get the only thing he is lacking – to become a world champion.
