There’s no secret about how good Aaron Donald is. Regardless of which offensive lineman he’s going up against, he’s favored to win that matchup – even when getting double-teamed up front.
Carson Wentz has gone up against Donald only once in his career, but he’ll get another close-up look at the two-time Defensive Player of the Year again on Sunday when the Rams come to town. Leading up to the game, Wentz didn’t hold back his praise for Donald, calling him “a monster” and someone you always have to account for.
“Aaron Donald is a monster. Everyone knows it,” he told reporters Wednesday. “Everyone around the league knows the type of player he is and how he can really disrupt an offensive game plan. And so for us, we’re aware of that. [He’s] somebody we’ve got to always know where he is, but at the same time, we’ve got to execute, not play afraid, not play timid.”
It’s impossible to draw up a game plan without adjusting it to account for Donald. The Rams moved him around a lot in Week 1, too, making it more difficult to plan for where he’s going to line up.
When Doug Pederson is drawing up his approach for Week 2, he won’t just gloss over Donald’s impact, nor will Wentz on the field Sunday.
He’s a guy we definitely take accountability for where he’s at at all times,” Wentz said. “Like you said, he’s a game wrecker if you let it happen. We’ve just got to be smart with how we handle that.”
Pederson echoed Wentz’s thoughts on Donald, also calling him a guy who can wreck a game plan with his disruption on the interior.
“Obviously, there’s a great player in Aaron Donald. He is a game wrecker and he gains a lot of respect, not only from each opponent, but from around the league,” Pederson said. “This team is well-coached, well-disciplined, and it takes a full 60-minute game to compete with them.”
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