Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh became the Rams’ duo of destruction they were meant to be

The Rams look like the clear-cut best team in the NFL and it’s not that close — but even they have their own warts to cover up.

Los Angeles lost Pro Bowl cornerback Aqib Talib to injured reserve with an ankle injury, a giant blow to a pass defense that gave up 422 yards to Kirk Cousins without him. The Rams offense is clearly more than capable of picking up the slack, but the defense can cover for themselves a bit by turning the heat up on their pass rush.

Luckily, the Rams have Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh to help get that pass rush going — and MAN was it going on Thursday night. Manufacturing a pass rush without much help from the exterior is difficult, but Suh and Donald made it work against Minnesota.

The Rams interior duo didn’t really get going until the fourth quarter, but Los Angeles needed those plays to thwart a potential comeback by the Vikings. Suh and Donald took care of their secondary by getting three sacks in the final quarter of play to seal the 38-31 win.

Scientists looking for signs of extraterrestrial life need to look no further than No. 99 playing for the Los Angeles Rams. Donald was completely deserving of the six-year, $135 million contract he received right before the season — and he showed the universe why against the Vikings.

Donald has generated a ton of pressure this season, but he was still chasing his first sack of the young season heading into Week 4. He finally got that elusive sack on the opening play of the fourth quarter. Donald took a zipline through the middle of the Vikings offensive line for the sack on Kirk Cousins. It took Donald about 2 seconds to reach Cousins after the ball was snapped.

Donald’s next sack was just as physically impressive. Again, he darted through the left side of the Vikings’ offensive line on his way to a sack with about 2:20 left in the game.

This sack came right after Minnesota used a timeout to stop the clock before they attempted to drive down the field with a chance to tie. Donald got the clock ticking down to the two-minute warning and the Vikings incurred a big loss on the play, essentially wasting the timeout they just burned.

On the drive before Donald’s final sack, Suh joined the party. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has been experimenting with Suh all over the defensive line and Suh showed off his versatility by getting a sack at defensive end on a critical third down.

To make the play a little easier for Suh, it looks like the Vikings right tackle didn’t have any interest in blocking him.

The easiest way to help a banged-up secondary is to make sure the quarterback can’t throw the ball. After giving up 28 points through three quarters, the Rams defense settled in for the fourth quarter, only giving up three points after Suh’s clutch sack.

With an offense that’s basically able to score at will, Donald and Suh will have plenty of opportunities to pin their ears back and make big plays in the backfield. Fourth-round rookie defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers chipped in with a fourth-quarter sack and should contribute in the future as well.

On the other hand, teams will have to use an aerial assault to keep up with the Rams — potentially exposing their corners aside from Marcus Peters, and even he wasn’t completely healthy Thursday night. All of this puts more pressure on the Rams defensive line to make plays.

The Vikings do have one of the more talented offenses in the NFL (outside of the offensive line), so the margin of error won’t always be so small for the Rams. In the wake of the Talib injury, the Rams’ duo in the middle of their defensive line needed to step up. As Thursday night showed, that’s not exactly the worst strategy.