https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-rams-aarond-donald-named-pffs-2018-pass-rusher-of-the-year

Rams' Aaron Donald named PFF's 2018 Pass-Rusher of the Year
BY AUSTIN GAYLE



If you’re just now warming up to Aaron Donald as the league’s most dominant pass-rushing force because he put up over 20 sacks, we regret to inform you that you’re a tad late. The Rams defensive tackle has been the recipient of PFF’s Pass-Rusher of the Year award every single season since it was introduced in 2015. As far as rushing the passer goes, Donald is in a class all by himself.



You’ve surely seen the stats repeated ad nauseam on PFF’s site and Twitter account. 106 pressures. 25.9 percent win rate. Both head and shoulders above anyone else in the NFL. What hasn’t been repeated is exactly what makes him so special. The short answer is everything.

He’s the most athletic defensive tackle in the NFL with the most consistently effective hand usage as a pass-rusher. Donald has taken his game to a level to which even game planning for him often doesn’t matter.

The vast majority of defensive linemen in the league hate when the offense slides the protection their way. For 3-techniques (lined up on outside shoulder of the guard), this means that the guard and center are essentially double teaming you.



The guard wants to overset slightly so that going outside of him isn’t a viable option while any inside move gets squashed by the center. Donald though proved on a vast number of occasions this season that he’s capable of demolishing the slide with both the inside…



and the outside move.



The pressure totals only tell half the story with Donald. The speed with which he destroys opposing offensive linemen is unparalleled. The amount of times he wins on contact is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Donald had 87 quick wins as a pass-rusher this season (within 2.8 seconds of snap).

The next closest player was J.J. Watt with 51. He’s simply too quick, with too small of a strike zone for offensive linemen to engage him cleanly. Getting into his shoulder pads is a near impossible task. Take this play-action fake in Week 17 when Donald beats right tackle Mike McGlinchey.



This never happens. Defensive tackles are not quick enough off the ball to get all the way into the backfield without getting washed away from the quarterback on outside zone action like that. Donald can do things that no other defensive tackle in NFL history has been capable of. We are watching a future Hall of Famer in his prime, and we’ll get to see him on the world’s biggest stage in a couple weeks.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/01/22/darren-mcfadden-gets-dwi-in-whataburger-drive-thru/

Darren McFadden gets DWI in Whataburger drive-thru
Posted by Darin Gantt on January 22, 2019

Cowboys running backs just want to be fed. Even if they can’t quite get to the food safely or while awake.

Former Raiders first-round pick Darren McFadden was arrested for driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest, after falling asleep in the drive-thru line of a Whataburger.

According to Tom Steele of the Dallas Morning News, the 31-year-old McFadden fell asleep in his vehicle just after midnight, at a location approximately four miles from his home. There was no word in the report as to whether he had already ordered, or what he ordered, but it’s Whataburger so you know it was good.

He was released on a personal recognizance bond.

The former fourth overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft spent parts of three seasons with the Cowboys, after his first seven years with the Raiders.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers social media team must be kind of boring.

I've been bashing Wade around these parts this year. But I must say he dialed up an awesome game plan to shut down a Hall of fame QB and maybe the top WR in the league. Mad love for papa Wade.

I really like our chances in the Super Bowl and am usually a realist. Wade has a nice history beating Belicheat in the playoffs.

The only time I've ever turned off a Rams game was if they were getting blown out. Like against the Patriots in London.

By beating the Patriots. No one will care how we got there if we take care of business.

12intheBox said:

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That's wrong. Period.

And my hate for the Pats is irrationally deep.

Stay angry @Angry Ram

${stayangrymyfreinds.gif}
${lettheangerflowthroughyou.gif}

Way too lazy to look those up.

NoCoNite said:

Which is nice but this season will always have talk of an asterisk now.
Just like the tuck rule.

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We have our "tuck rule" now. Evidently that's how you start a dynasty.....

I often think of the road not travelled, and we have a few guys on our team who may have chosen a different future before the 2018 season.

Marcus Peters: Yes I know, Peters has been a punch line during the period when Aqib Talib was recovering, but we see how much better he is being the #2 guy, and you wonder if the Chefs had kept him on that KC defense, would he have helped them make it to the Super Bowl?

Aqib Talib: Talib followed his old coach Wade Phillips to the Rams. It was wondered how good Talib was at this point in his career before the season. We now know that without Talib, we probably scrape out the NFC West, but then with a vulnerable secondary the Rams are probably one and done in the Wild Card round. Again.

Ndamukong Suh: Many, including myself, wondered if the big man was worth his paycheck and roster spot. He wasn't that dominant, it seemed, although his presence may have helped AD get 20+ sacks. We KNOW his value now in the playoffs. He has been worth his weight in gold in both the Dallas and the New Orleans games. New Orleans reportedly offered him more money to play there, but there were attractions for him stronger than the Big Easy. He has interests in finance and business, and the richest man in the NFL, Stan Kroenke was an attraction for him. I believe if we were facing Suh in a Saints uniform, we would have lost on Sunday...

Brandin Cooks: Trade from the Patriots to the Rams, and what an acquisition to replace Sammy Watkins. Sammy did well in spots this year for the Chefs, but nowhere near as productive and complimentary in Sean McVay's system, as Cooks. Cooks was one of two 1000+ yard WR's.....What an addition that helped us get to the Super Bowl...

Dante Fowler: Another brilliant in season trade by Les Snead. We needed an edge rusher and we got one in him. It was hit on Sunday that made Brees cough up the critical INT that Johnson recovered.

CJ Anderson: Maybe the most important in-season pick up in recent memory. His yardage totals in New Orleans wasn't nearly as impressive as his previous three games, but his style of running is something we sorely lacked. He is a one cut, down hill bruiser of a RB, which Todd isn't. The Dallas game was a revelation and hopefully we will see a two headed monster vs. the Patriots. I don't think Todd was quite ready vs Dallas, and would have changed our game plan that day without Anderson. I'm still not sure if Gurley is healthy, but with CJ we have the biggest security blanket for the RB position.

Without these guys, we are not in Super Bowl 53. Period. Les Snead, you freakin' STUD!

I remember when we were in St Louis before a game when he was warming up, he was kicking 70 yard field goals. And making them.

My wife, the not so football fan but gets into it for me, (what a doll) asked me if that was normal. She even thought that was unusual. She said he could set a record. I agreed.

What I didn't know is how he was going to get us to the show with that skill. Even better.

Better than Money. No doubt.

GO RAMS!!!

We have a coach that says. . . I don't want to be smarter than you I want to be the best me!

With a WE NOT ME mentality.

How can I be better? How can I be better for those around me? And how can we be better!?

20 years ago Mcvay was at the Super Bowl with his Grandpa for his birthday in Atlanta.

Let's go out there and be our best.

Rynie said:

Pur defense got gashed, but overall we were like #6.

We went like 7 quarters last season without even a FG. Linehan, and our offense, has been the BIGGEST problem, not our defense that got beat by probably the best offense in the league.

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I agree, Rynie. You're defense is very good. They are the reason the Cowboys lost the game, though.
You're offense has also improved after the Cooper trade.

OldSchool said:

Very likely to happen regardless of what happens in the SB. The following year will be us vs the Cowboys to open the new stadium.

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winner of SB always opens the season on Thursday Night


so the Rams will be playing the season opener in 2019 and 2020( in the new stadium)

Had he run the ball 3 x and kicked a FG, the 4 plays prob run off about 20 seconds. The Rams would have had the ball down three with 50 seconds left and ZERO timeouts. Having to try and drive for a game tying FG. There's also a chance they pick up a first down.

People do not really understand how awful Payton's play calling was. But all they want to do is talk about that play.

I think he should have gone for it on the base that even if they failed, we had the saints pinned at the 1 with a run game that hasn't done anything and an aversion to make really crazy plays so close to their endzone with the lead and 5 min left.

Happy for European Rams fans. It should be fun sporting your Rams Super Bowl gear at Wembley...

FrantikRam said:

And what's awesome about this game is that the Saints still took the lead and all three of their units had chances to win the game

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The Truth.

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Says a lot about McVay that a vet like Talib can come in before the season and have this much love/respect for his HC.

OP forgot a crucial thing, Snead's wonderful horde of 6th round picks.

...until I've been spending hours on the internet, soaking up the hypocritical tears of the Saints fans and the insincere backlash from NFL fans of other teams, all of whom have enjoyed the bad calls against the Rams over the years.

When it happened to us, I felt so helpless, justifying my concern for the level of officiating in this league with images and countless supporting facts only to be told "Doesn't matter, the good teams figure out a way to win anyway".

Gotcha.

This is spelled K-A-R-M-A, folks. And it feels SOOOO good.

Time for one more Karma dog, exorcising the ghost of that SB the Cheatriots stole from us when the Brady/Belicheat dynasty was born.

Best. Day. Ever.

One thing when you have a lot of high end players. Sometimes it doesn't work out because of chemistry. But you get these guys in a game this big, the cream rises to the top. They all played well.

.

Great game Mike. You really stuck it to the rams.

Who were you gonna call after the game? I know, the wahhhhhhhmbulance. Go crying to Roger you big baby.

.