There’s no question that one of the most devastating losses in Aaron Donald’s NFL career was falling to the New England Patriots 13-3 at Super Bowl LIII.
It was a battle of elite defenses with Tom Brady leading his offense on a crucial fourth-quarter touchdown drive to ultimately put it away for New England.
Donald was so confident coming into the game that he assured his daughter the Rams would win, and they’d play in the confetti after it was over. Unfortunately for the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Brady and the Patriots had other plans.
When appearing on “The Pivot Podcast,” Donald admitted he hated Brady for three years after that Super Bowl loss.
“That broke my heart. I ain’t gonna lie. Losing that Super Bowl, I ain’t gonna lie, I was down for like two months. I hated Tom Brady for like three years after that,” said Donald. “I ain’t gonna lie, I was mad. I was telling my daughter, ‘We gonna win this.’ This was the [2018-2019] year. We was on fire.
“I’m like, ‘Can’t nobody stop us.’ I’m like, ‘We gonna handle business, we gonna win this.’ I told her, ‘Daddy gonna bring you on the field. We gonna play in this confetti.’ She was like, ‘I can’t wait, daddy.’ I remember walking off the field and seeing my daughter cry. I felt like I let her down.”
Aaron Donald is one of the greatest football players of all time, but his career wasn’t perfect. He promised his daughter they would play in the winning confetti after they beat the @Patriots in the 2018-19 Super Bowl!
After the loss, he saw his baby in tears when he walked to… pic.twitter.com/zp6Nnnltkh
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) July 16, 2024
Donald vowed he’d do everything he could to never let a moment like that slip away again. He made good on that promise three years later at Super Bowl LVI against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Getting over the hump and hoisting a Lombardi Trophy was the perfect cure for his competitive anger towards Brady.
At the very least, he can find solace in the fact that his outcome was better than the long line of players who have had their Super Bowl dreams crushed by Brady and the Patriots.
