Losses can be demoralizing to a football team, but All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald is doing the best he can to keep the Los Angeles Rams’ spirits high amid their early-season struggles. As their schedule wears on, Los Angeles will need to improve several aspects of its approach in the coming weeks and should have a leg up on its preparation with the benefit of Donald’s leadership.
He spoke to the media on Thursday and told reporters that the Rams’ recent skid is not a cause for major concern to him personally, but that he recognizes the effect it might have on the younger defensive talent on the team. Donald seemed determined to ensure that the losses don’t take their toll on the team’s morale, and made it clear that he is taking it upon himself to keep everybody engaged while Los Angeles makes moves to get back above .500.
“I feel like adversity can do two things to you,” Donald explained. “It can keep you down or it can motivate you and make you work that much harder. From my conversations with certain players, talking to some of the coaches, me personally, it’s nothing to panic about because I understand everybody’s mindset just talking to them and how everybody feels. I think we got a lot of good veteran guys that have played on some good football team and accomplished some great things in this league, and that understand what we need to do to get back on track.
“It’s just bringing the young guys along that don’t have that much experience and making them comfortable. They have that same mindset we got, but that’s us as leaders, bringing the guys along, talking to the guys, trying to find ways to build their confidence up any way we can. They play a big part of helping us win games, so just having everybody on the same page.”
With twelve more games on their 2022 schedule, the Rams certainly aren’t too far gone to make a legitimate run at the playoffs in January, but they will need to get things turned around quickly to avoid falling further behind. After a season where they won the Super Bowl, expectations were high for the team heading into this year, and though they haven’t lived up to them yet, there remains plenty of time to fix the issues that have held them back so far this season.
Time will tell if they will be able to get back in contention in their division, but with Donald as their unquestioned leader on defense, the outlook remains bright despite the poor outcomes in recent weeks.
