Aaron Donald sends defiant message as Rams’ season spirals down drain

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The Los Angeles Rams are currently 2-4 and buried in last place in the NFC West. 

Their roster is decimated with injuries as half their starters are either out or questionable for Sunday’s OG showdown with the Las Vegas Raiders. 

Six weeks into a season that began with such high Super Bowl aspirations, the Rams look less like a championship team and more like a team that keeps discovering new ways to lose. 

And yet, amid the mounting wreckage, Aaron Donald isn’t ready to wave the white flag. 

“You can’t curl up and think it’s over. It’s not over,” Donald said Thursday after practice. “You have a lot of ball to play. You just have to find a way to play better and find a way to win games.”

That’s easier said than done for a team that has become its own worst enemy.

In their last four games, the Rams have squandered leads, committed costly penalties, botched special teams assignments and watched winnable games slip through their fingers. Missed field goals, blown opportunities and an alarming inability to finish have transformed a promising season into a weekly exercise in frustration. Each of the last four games has come down to the final play of the game. A razor’s edge between winning and losing that has seen the Rams on the wrong side of that edge than on the right one. 

Their heartbreaking overtime loss to Buffalo was followed by an embarrassing 18-16 defeat to Arizona, a game that sent Los Angeles tumbling into the division cellar.

And somehow, the losses on the scoreboard haven’t been nearly as devastating as the losses in the training room.

Wide receiver Davante Adams is out 6-10 weeks with a ruptured hamstring. Defensive tackle Poona Ford is out for the season. Kobie Turner will miss multiple weeks. The offensive line, receiving corps and tight end room have been ravaged by injuries, while Myles Garrett remains sidelined.

Nearly half the starting lineup has been affected by injuries, leaving Sean McVay scrambling for answers and Donald, 35, potentially facing a heavier workload.

“If it’s 30 plays, 40 plays, 50 plays, 60 plays, that’s what it’s going to be,” Donald said.

But the future Hall of Famer refuses to mistake adversity for surrender.

“Is there a sense of urgency? For sure, because we want to win,” Donald said. “But as far as curling up and panicking like this is the end of the world, it’s not that.”

Donald understands the reality. The Rams aren’t one unlucky bounce away from being contenders. They have legitimate problems that require immediate solutions.

But with 11 games remaining, there’s still time to salvage the season, beginning Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders.

“We control how we want the season to go,” Donald said. “We just have to go out there and do it.”

Despite the Rams finding new ways to lose this season, Donald believes there’s still enough football left for the team to remember how to win and turn it around.

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