In our divisional round preview detailing how the Buccaneers could fend off the Rams, we posited that Aaron Donald had a season-high 18 snaps at the edge in Los Angeles’ 34-24 Week 3 win over the Bucs, and with right tackle Tristan Wirfs out of the rematch due to a high ankle sprain, backup Josh Wells could be the Bucs’ vulnerability — especially if defensive coordinator Raheem Morris decided to put Donald on the defensive left side, leaving one-on-ones with Wells that could not work at all for Tom Brady.
It did not take long for Morris to stack this one up. With 7:30 left in the first quarter, Donald lined up right over Wells with no help (!!!), and the utterly predictable thing happened. Brady barely escaped a sack on an incomplete pass to Mike Evans.
AD is DIFFERENT. 😤
📺 @SNFonNBC | @AaronDonald97pic.twitter.com/vF9aiQE8dj
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 23, 2022
Started, going, etc. pic.twitter.com/pL40EAE4XI
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) January 23, 2022
Donald had a sack of Brady off the edge from the other side in Week 3, beating Rob Gronkowski and left tackle Donovan Smith…
…and Wells got absolutely demolished by Eagles pass-rusher Ryan Kerrigan for this sack in Tampa Bay’s wild-card win.
Ryan Kerrigan : 3 tackles, 2 for loss, 1.5 sack & 2 QB hits (His 1st playoff game since 2015) pic.twitter.com/PON8W2pudg
— Lee Harvey (@MusikFan4Life) January 16, 2022
The Bucs are either going to have to give Wells some kind of chip help when Donald aligns outside, or up the level of Brady’s life insurance.
