Aaron Donald has terrorized the Detroit Lions in his legendary career, logging six sacks in three meetings against them, which is the most he has against a team that isn’t in the NFC West. While Donald gets an opportunity to line up across from the Lions in Week 7, he’ll be chasing down a familiar face in Jared Goff, who is now the quarterback in Detroit.
In a conversation with the media about the upcoming game, Donald revealed that he has spoken to Goff through texts leading up to this matchup.
“It’s going to be fun. There is competition, opportunity to just make a play,” Donald said. “I been texting him this week, just cracking jokes here and there. We are going to do our job and get after him and try to have some successes.”
Goff and Donald were teammates from 2016-2020, helping the Rams advance to the Super Bowl in 2018. But with Goff failing to grow alongside Sean McVay, Los Angeles elected to send Goff to the Lions in exchange for Matthew Stafford.
Donald had opportunities to face Goff in practices, but he’s never gotten a chance to legitimately sack his former quarterback. That will change on Sunday when the Rams take on a winless Lions squad that is led by Goff.
When asked about whether or not it will be awkward to play against Goff, Donald made it clear that he won’t be holding back when the game kicks off.
“Nah, it ain’t gonna be weird at all. I told him, get ready. I told him I’m gonna come after him,” Donald said. “So, he knows what it is. But I’m going to go out there, fly around, trying to make my plays when they present themselves. Hopefully, I get to him a couple of times.”
Through the first six weeks, Donald has recorded 3.5 sacks, five tackles for loss, and one forced fumble. Goff may have a tough time going to sleep the night before Sunday’s anticipated matchup knowing that No. 99 will be chasing him around all game.