THOUSAND OAKS — Aaron Donald has always led by example, quietly showing the rest of the Rams how to train, practice and play, even if few do it at his level.
But teammates are seeing something different from the All-Pro defensive tackle in the days leading up to Sunday’s NFC championship game against the San Francisco 49ers at SoFi Stadium.
Better yet, they’re hearing something different.
Aaron Donald leads speaking.
“And when he talks, everyone listens,” Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris said.
Morris and the Rams players say Donald is stepping up to deliver pep talk at the end of practice. Getting close with people he’s not usually close with. Infecting his sense of urgency to the rest of the team.
Donald says one reason for the change is that Von Miller, the outside linebacker acquired in November to complete a dynamic passing-rush duo, urged him to take advantage of his stature in football by speaking up more.
“One thing Von challenged me with is being more vocal. Talk to the guys, let them hear my voice,” Donald said.
No explanation needed for the other reason Donald finds it harder to keep quiet now.
NFC title game puts Donald one win away from returning to Super Bowl and drink a second chance at the championship that slipped away when the Rams lost to the New England Patriots, 13-3, after the 2018 season.
At 30 years old, with three NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards, a Rams-record seven first-team All-Pro honors and a 1982 Rams record 98 regular-season sacks to his name, Donald doesn’t have much else to live up to.
“I know what it’s like to be in it (the Super Bowl). I don’t know what it’s like to win,” Donald said. “The only thing left for me now is to be a world champion.
“But to get to that point, we have to win this week.”
If the fourth-seeded Rams beat the sixth-seeded 49ers, they will face either the Kansas City Chiefs or the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI on February 13 on home soil at SoFi Stadium.
Eleven other current Rams were on the 2018 team that fell short. As Donald points out, left tackle Andrew Whitworth, who was on that team, and quarterback Matthew Stafford, who joined the Rams in 2021, have been in the NFL longer than he has and haven’t won a Super Bowl. Ditto for longtime Los Angeles punter Johnny Hekker and safety Eric Weddle.
However, it is Donald, specifically, whose pursuit of the Super Bowl seems to have become a motivation for the entire team.
Miller, who was the MVP of the Denver Broncos’ Super Bowl victory over the Carolina Panthers after the 2015 season, said he wants to help Donald have that experience.
“I want to complete the wish list for him,” Miller said Wednesday. “Selfishly, that’s what I want. I want to be the guy who says, ‘Man, I helped AD get a Super Bowl.
“We want it for him. The whole team wants it for him. We are going to do everything possible to achieve it.”
Morris, hired in 2021, recalled watching the Rams lose to the Green Bay Packers in a divisional round playoff game last season.
“I remember seeing Aaron Donald’s face, because they kept showing him on TV, and I just looked into his eyes and I felt that pain and I felt that pain,” Morris said. “The first thing I said to him when I got here was, ‘I’m going to do everything I can to help you win a championship.'”
Morris said there’s a reason teammates root for Donald.
“He is a humble guy. He is a great teammate for his guys. He does everything the right way, the way he trains,” Morris said. “We love it. We just love it.”
Donald says he appreciates hearing that.
The 49ers haven’t been so kind. They’ve done a good job of frustrating Donald of late, holding him to a sack of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in four games in 2020 and 2021 while extending their winning streak against the Rams to six games. The Rams’ most recent loss in the series might have been their most crushing, San Francisco overcame a 17-0 deficit to win, 27-24, in overtime at SoFi Stadium on Jan. 9.
Donald is determined that it won’t happen again.
“My mindset is there’s no way we’re going to lose this game,” he told reporters Thursday. “We have to play through four quarters, and we have to find a way to finish, and I know we will.”
Donald’s message to his teammates could be similar.
As a sign of respect from his teammates, Morris recalled seeing Ramsey run to join a pre-practice meeting when he saw Donald talking to the group.
Ramsey said Donald was talking about keeping the team’s focus on their Super Bowl goal and doing everything they can to achieve it.
Said Ramsey: “It means a little bit more when AD does stuff like that.”
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