For the past two years, Aaron Donald existed only in Rams fans’ memories.
The image of Donald pointing to his ring finger after sending the Rams to the Super Bowl. Holding up not one, not two, but three NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards. His shirtless speech at the parade, and hugging his teammates with tears in his eyes as blue-and-yellow confetti fell from the sky.
Well, on Monday night inside a sold out SoFi Stadium, all those memories came running out of the tunnel.
Donald waited until the Rams’ real home opener against the New York Giants to officially end his nearly three-year retirement, skipping the Week 1 trip to Australia and saving his comeback for the bright lights of Monday Night Football.
Prior to kickoff, Donald was the final Rams player reintroduced to the 73,773 fans at SoFi, as he emerged from the tunnel to a roar that felt like the bass dropping at a welcome-home party. No. 99 jerseys dotted the stands. Fans held signs that said “The beast is back!” Thousands of supporters chanted “AD! AD!” Everyone got caught up in the excitement and electricity of it all.
Even the Rams reigning MVP and starting quarterback.
“I was so juiced,” Matthew Stafford said of Donald’s introduction. “He came running out of the tunnel and I couldn’t control myself. I was freaking hyped.”
So was Donald.
“I did a little bit more jumping than I usually do,” Donald said with a laugh. “I kind of hyped myself up a little bit, man. It felt good.”
With the vibes high, Donald had to do the difficult part of knocking the rust off and playing football again.
Admittedly, Donald wasn’t the human demolition crew Rams fans remember from his prime. But anyone expecting the 35-year-old to spend his first night back tossing around 300-pound offensive linemen like a bouncer removing drunks from the club was expecting too much.
There was plenty of rust. There was double-teams. There were moments when Donald looked a half-step slower than the player who once seemed capable of teleporting himself into the backfield with a simple swim move.
But there were also lots to like and build off of.
Donald played more than 30 snaps, he finished with three tackles and helped the Rams defense suffocate the New York Giants in a 28-6 wire-to-wire victory.
And when the Rams desperately needed a stop, the old No. 99 showed up.
After Kyren Williams’ costly fumble gave the Giants the ball deep in Rams territory, the Giants faced third-and-2 near the goal line. Donald exploded into the backfield and stuffed Najee Harris, forcing New York to settle for a field goal.
“Wish I was able to slam him, though,” Donald joked afterward. “First game back, we’ll get there.”
That might have been the most Aaron Donald quote imaginable.
Three tackles weren’t enough. Saving four points wasn’t enough. After nearly 1,000 days away, Donald was already annoyed he didn’t finish the play more violently.
His fingerprints were elsewhere, too.
After failing to record a sack in the season-opening loss to San Francisco, the Rams finished with two against New York. With the Giants devoting attention to Donald inside, Byron Young found favorable opportunities off the edge. The pressure helped a secondary that repeatedly made Jaxson Dart and Jameis Winston uncomfortable, including Trent McDuffie’s first interception as a Ram.
“We’ve got to give you more seconds to get to the passer,” McDuffie said of the relationship between the secondary and defensive front. “And vice versa — you get back there to the passer, it gives us more opportunities.”
McDuffie cashed in one of those opportunities, peeling off his assignment and intercepting Winston like a center fielder tracking a fly ball.
That’s the Donald effect the box score can’t adequately explain.
Donald admitted that he returned in part because the prospect of lining up alongside Myles Garrett meant offenses couldn’t devote endless resources to stopping him. But with Garrett watching from a suite with the rest of Donald’s family, the double-teams he spent a decade fighting to avoid immediately returned with him.
With Garrett on injured reserve for at least the next four weeks, the real question becomes can Donald beat the double-teams again and help put pressure on the quarterback.
Nobody should answer that after watching him on a random September night. He isn’t the 27-year-old that collected 20.5 sacks in 2018 anymore. But if Garrett can come back healthy, the Rams don’t need that version of Donald anymore. They need the veteran who can create favorable matchups for everyone around him and occasionally reach into the past when the moment demands it most.
Monday night, on third-and-2 near the goal line, he did exactly that.
Afterward, Donald acknowledged hearing the chants.
“I felt the love,” he said. “I definitely did.”
The love was never in question.
Whether Donald could still play at an elite level was.
One game won’t settle that debate, and three tackles with zero sacks won’t keep offensive coordinators up at night with nightmares of No. 99. But for one night, the Rams didn’t need the Aaron Donald of 2018 or even the one who raised the Lombardi Trophy in this building four years ago.
They needed No. 99 on the field when the Giants had two yards to go and Donald made sure they didn’t get them.
The beast might not be all the way back yet, but he’s in there somewhere and just waiting to attack.
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