Why losing Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett might have made the Rams’ defense even stronger

You won’t hear an NFL head coach say that the best thing that could happen to his football team is to lose a couple of its best players. 

But sometimes, if it happens in October, it can be exactly what a team needs in the long run. 

Not because injuries are blessings in disguise. They’re not. Injuries are as much a part of the game as first downs and field goals. Championship teams aren’t built solely on the backs of a couple superstars. They’re forged in the uncomfortable moments when the next man up on the depth charts has to prove he belongs. 

And that’s exactly what the Los Angeles Rams discovered last Sunday in Philadelphia. 

With three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year award winner Aaron Donald sidelined by back soreness and reigning DPOY Myles Garrett recovering from a knee procedure, the Rams walked into Lincoln Financial Field without two of the most feared defensive players of their generation. 

They walked out with a 24-20 victory and something that could prove to be considerably more valuable come December and January: a defensive front that knows it can win without either of them. 

The Eagles managed just 172 total yards, including just 93 passing yards. Philadelphia averaged a miserable 3.0 yard per play and was a jaw-dropping 0-for-12 on third down. Against an offense featuring Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and one of football’s most formidable offensive lines, Los Angeles turned third down into an exercise in futility. 

And the most encouraging part for the Rams wasn’t who made the big defensive plays, but how many different players contributed to them. 

Kobie Turner played 48 defensive snaps, nearly 80% of the total. Braden Fiske logged 44, his heaviest workload since the middle of last season, and generated seven pressures. Poona Ford and Tyler Davis combined for 48 snaps, while Larrell Murchison and Ty Hamilton contributed another 23. Even undrafted rookie Wesley Bailey got 29 snaps, with Desjuan Johnson adding seven more.

Those aren’t meaningless numbers buried deep in the stat book. They’re investments in a defense that might need every one of those players when the stakes become considerably higher later in the year. 

“I think it’s key and critical to continue to build camaraderie and continue to understand who we are rushing with and playing beside,” Turner said. “That’s what those games do for us.”

Turner is right. Defensive line chemistry isn’t something coaches can manufacture with a whiteboard and a motivational speech. Camaraderie and cohesion is forged through hundreds of collisions, knowing when your teammate is going to twist inside, recognizing when he’s lost contain and instinctively covering the gap before an opposing quarterback exploits it. 

Those instincts are earned over repetition, not inherited. 

And there’s no better way to earn them than against a playoff opponent inside a hostile stadium on the road. 

Without Garrett and Donald, who have 236.5 combined sacks, Byron Young provided the fireworks, recording 2.5 sacks on Hurts, three quarterback hits, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble. His 31 career sacks now place him alongside Reggie Doss on the Rams’ all-time list. Still a long way to go to catch Donald and Garrett. 

But despite Young’s Herculean effort, this wasn’t a one-man demolition crew. 

Defensive coordinator Chris Shula leaned into his depth and trusted his players. The results were emphatic. The Rams stopped the Eagles on three of their four fourth-down attempts, including linebacker Nate Landman on a third quarter tush push and a fourth quarter goalline stand. Those two crucial stops helped swing the momentum back to the Rams who rallied with two fourth quarter touchdowns to steal the victory from the jaws of defeat. 

Now the Rams will host the 3-1 Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium on Monday Night Football with the 2024 NFL MVP in Josh Allen. That’s a considerably different challenge.

Thankfully, the Rams will have Donald back for their matchup with the Bills.

To further cement how important it was for many of these young Rams to get snaps on defense last week in Philadelphia, look no further than the 2023 Kansas City Chiefs. 

That Super Bowl-winning team leaned heavily on a young defense that gained confidence and cohesiveness as the season progressed. When injuries inevitably struck, players such as Chamarri Conner and Leo Chenal stepped up in their absence. The Chiefs went on to win the Super Bowl and held their opponents to just 13.7 points per game during the postseason. 

The lesson here isn’t that injuries make teams better, but rather that opportunities can create depth, camaraderie and confidence, and those things help win championships.

“To know we have two former DPOYs sitting back at home, but these are still the guys. There’s no drop-off. No expectation of a drop-off,” Turner said. “It felt like the boys out there. We know what the standard is, and we’re going to continue to uphold that.”

Donald echoed that sentiment Friday, acknowledging that the younger defensive linemen had already established themselves long before he and Garrett arrived.

“We’re just extra pieces to the puzzle,” Donald said. “It’s about trusting the next man up.”

That’s an extraordinary statement from a player who spent a decade being the entire puzzle for opposing offensive coordinators.

Of course, one dominant afternoon doesn’t erase every concern. The Eagles were already injured and struggling offensively, and losing Barkley to a hamstring injury early in the game made their task considerably harder. 

We doubt they’ll be able to hold Allen and the Bills offense to under 100 yards passing or under 200 total yards. 

But the Rams shouldn’t overlook what happened in Philadelphia.

Eventually, the Rams expect to have Donald and Garrett lined up together. When they share the field for the first time, the Rams will finally have the dangerous defense they envisioned back in August. 

Not simply because they have five DPOY awards between them, but because the players behind them have already learned they don’t need saving.

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