Rams analyst D’Marco Farr: Aaron Donald is a tremendous player
Sep 28, 2016, 8:30 PM
Los Angeles Rams' Aaron Donald plays catch before the practice at Crawford Field at University of California, Irvine, on Monday, August 8, 2016. (Kyusung Gong/The Orange County Register via AP)
(Kyusung Gong/The Orange County Register via AP)
The Arizona Cardinals will play the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday as they look to right the ship after a 1-2 start.
After dropping a road game to a desperate Buffalo Bills, the Cardinals return home to play against a team that handed the Cardinals one of just three regular season losses last season.
D’Marco Farr, who is a former NFL defensive tackle and current sideline analyst for the Rams, joined Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Wednesday to talk about the state of the Rams, and a “kraken” of a player, Aaron Donald.
“Now that (J.J. Watt) is out, I think more people will get to see exactly how good Aaron Donald is,” Farr said.
During the Rams’ 37-32 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, their defensive line was depleted. Left end William Hayes suffered an injury and another defensive end, Eugene Sims, was ejected. Donald was asked to carry the load for the defense, and he did just that.
“Aaron Donald in a flip goes out there and plays left end, gets pressure, gets sacks, plays right end, gets pressures, gets sacks. Goes back to D-tackle, does the same thing,” Farr said. “It doesn’t matter where you line him up, you can’t keep him out of the backfield.”
Donald didn’t get a sack, but his presence was felt. Against the Bucs, he had two quarterback hits and three hurries. He also had two pass deflections at the line of scrimmage. Pro Football Focus listed him as the best interior defender for Week 3.
The Cardinals have given up nine sacks on the season — five came against Buffalo — and now Donald is going to test the offensive line. Donald, who leads the league with 13 pressures and last season notched 11 sacks, isn’t the only talented player on the defense that also includes end Robert Quinn, who has 52 sacks in 74 career games.
While there is plenty to worry about, it is Donald who the Cardinals may need to focus on.
“The guy’s competitive, he’s strong, he’s very, very humble and you can put him anywhere, I think he’s tremendous,” Farr said.
