Washington Commanders' Ron Rivera Reveals Plan for Los Angeles Rams' Aaron Donald

Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera discussed the team's preparation for the Los Angeles Rams, including facing future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald.

If you're a team that struggles to protect the quarterback, there's few players in NFL history you would less rather face than Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald. However, that's the task at hand for the Washington Commanders in Week 15. 

Coach Ron Rivera discussed the challenge that the Commanders offense will face Sunday afternoon when they take on the Rams at So-Fi Stadium.

“Well, you most certainly got to be aware of where he is first and foremost," Rivera said. "Hopefully, with things that we would like to do, our intent to do, we can get those things accomplished.”

Aaron Donald and the Los Angeles Rams are facing the Washington Commanders in Week 15.  / USA Today

Washington, of course, has struggled to protect second-year quarterback Sam Howell in 2023. While it can be argued that Howell at times needs to get the ball out quicker, even if that just means throwing it away, he's been sacked a staggering 58 times this season. 

Howell probably won't break the single-season record in terms of being sacked, which belongs to David Carr, who was sacked 76 times in his rookie season with the expansion Houston Texans in 2002. But there are only 10 seasons where a quarterback has been sacked more than Howell has this season, and that's with a month left in the regular season. 

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Donald "only" has six sacks this season, but the three-time Defensive Player of the Year has 109 on his resume. In his age-32 season, Donald also has 21 quarterback hits and 13 tackles for a loss, so even if he isn't able to sack Howell, he's still more than capable of wrecking a play against a porous offensive line like Washington's. 

If one of the greatest interior defensive linemen ever going against an all-time bad pass-protecting unit wasn't enough, the Commanders are returning from their bye week and immediately going from the eastern time zone to western, typically a difficult adjustment. Additionally, the 6-7 Rams are still in the thick of the NFC postseason race, while the 4-9 Commanders are playing out another lost season. Come to think of it, perhaps the Rams should be favored by more than 6.5 points.