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Rams: Donald deserving of more snaps

PFF-headlinesEven though the unit was expected to carry the Rams to new heights in 2014, the defense has played poorly through the first quarter of the season. Their struggles against the run have been well documented, however, it would be naïve to believe that’s the only obstacle to overcome. They rank third in passing yards allowed, but when teams have wanted to throw, they have. Evidenced by opponent QB’s averaging a 107.8 QB Rating and 8.23 yards per attempt (for context, Phillip Rivers leads the league at 8.43).

While he surely can’t turn it all around around by himself, getting Aaron Donald on the field more can only help the Rams. He has been far and away their best defensive player this season. His impressive +6.7 on only 83 snaps ( less than half than that of their full time starters) is the only positive overall grade on defense and he holds the second place score in Run Stop Percentage among defensive tackles. It will be interesting to see if the bye week gave the Rams coaching staff time to create more packages for such an emerging talent.

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