4 plays that show Aaron Donald is now even too good for words

I first became acquainted with Aaron Donald’s ridiculous wealth of talent five years ago working on his draft breakdown. Even though I had some issues with his effort, something that I tend to be a stickler about, the things this kid could do on the field simply blew me away.

Not only was he a freak athlete, but he also had the kind of elite technique that you rarely see from college players. He was dominant no matter where they lined him up on the defensive line, in spite of the fact that at 6’1 and 285 pounds with arms less than 33 inches long, most folks would agree that he was undersized. I said back then that if he was a couple of inches taller, Donald would have been the consensus No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

Last year he made a strong case for being one of the best players period. He earned his first Defensive Player Of The Year award, and if he can stay healthy, it’s a sure bet that it won’t be his last.

What continues to astound me is the fact he still somehow continues to improve. Normally guys hit a a certain level of play at some point, usually around Year 3, and stay there. Other times guys are so good that we just grow accustomed, in some ways bored, with their greatness.

With Donald, I already know how great he is before I turn on the tape, yet he still manages to wow me on a regular basis.

His performance against San Francisco last Sunday shot right past “wow” and ended up in “cussing like a a sailor” territory.

Donald was on that field looking like somebody had slipped him the Infinity Gauntlet, and by the end of the game the 49ers quarterback was probably in a corner somewhere telling Tony Stark he didn’t feel so well.

He made so many great plays in that game that it was hard to choose which ones I wanted to discuss. I finally narrowed it down to four of them. What they all have in common is their degree of difficulty. They all took every ounce athletic ability Donald has along with his superb technique. The thing about Donald is you can’t fully appreciate his greatness unless you get to watch the all-22 or if they happen to show replays of what he does from several different angles. There are so many subtle, but devastating things that he does at full speed that you can’t really see everything that goes into making those plays from the normal sideline view.

Let’s get started!

The first play came with only 1:13 left in the first quarter. San Francisco had a first-and-10 at their own 20-yard line to start their third offensive drive of the game.

The 49ers initially had two tight ends lined up outside of the left tackle, but before the snap, George Kittle motioned across the formation and lined up outside of the right tackle. On the snap the whole 49ers offensive line, along with the tight ends, blocked like it was a zone running play. That meant that right guard Mike Person had to try to get outside leverage on Donald.

Technically Person accomplished at least part of his objective, because he did gain outside leverage on Donald. The problem was that he had to step so wide to get the job done that Donald was able to easily bench press him back behind the line of scrimmage. That forced Breida cut the ball back and run to where Donald wanted him to run to, and that’s when it happened.

That’s when Donald made one of those freaky ass plays that separates him from mere mortals.

Most guys would’ve just tried to escape off Person’s block and get in on an assisted tackle on a run that would have gained a couple of yards or so. The majority of human beings wouldn’t have even considered reaching out trying to cause a fumble, let alone flat foot snatching the ball right out of Breida’s clutches as he was going to the ground just like Debo snatched that chain off of Red’s neck.

That’s my ball, punk!

But that’s exactly what Donald, not only attempted, but succeeded in doing on that play. It happened so fast I’m actually impressed that the officials called it correctly on the field as a fumble and a clear recovery.

One minute it looked like a routine tackle with Donald combining with his teammate, Corey Littleton, to take Breida down. The next minute Breida is on the ground, but it’s Donald with the ball in his hands showing it to the ref like Rafiki presenting Simba in the Lion King.

Even on the replays the theft happened so quickly and smoothly that it’s hard to see the ball change possessions as it happens. It’s like you see Breida with both hands on the ball then you blink and the ball is magically in Donald’s right arm tucked away high and tight.

That was some David Blaine type shit right there, except on the middle of a football field.

The Rams would eventually score a touchdown on a Todd Gurley run to cap off the ensuing drive to stretch their early lead to 10-0.

The second incredible Aaron Donald play I want to talk about came with 13:40 left in the second quarter.

It’s third-and-12 and the 49ers decided to try what I would describe as a sort of down field screen to their uber talented fullback, Kyle Juszczyk, a jack-of-all trades. They lined up in shotgun with Juszczyk to C.J. Beathard’s right, Pierre Garcon lined up out wide and Kittle in the slot on the right side. Garcon ended up motioning inside of Kittle before the snap, then he continued to run his route, hooking up at about five yards depth in the middle of the field, while Kittle pushed up the seam about 10 yards and then cut inside. Juszczyk ran up the seam behind Kittle, then stopped about five yards up the field to turn around and look for the ball.

I believe the idea was to get Garcon’s and Kittle’s routes going to create a lane between the two of them against zone coverage. That would’ve allowed Beathard to complete a nice, easy pass to Juszczyk who would still be in position to potentially pick up at least 12 yards and a first down. It seemed like a good plan, at least on paper.

And they probably would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn’t been for that pesky Aaron Donald!

Donald was lined up as the right three-technique this time on the outside shoulder of the left guard, Laken Tomlinson. With Juszczyk offset away from Donald there was a pretty good chance that the center, Weston Richburg, was going to slide to him, and that’s exactly what Richburg did. That didn’t work out to well for Richburg, or Beathard.

Tomlinson did the right thing, technique wise, knowing he had help coming from the center. He overset Donald to the outside, so as to invite him to make an inside move and into the double team with the center. Sure enough, the tactic worked. Donald did indeed come inside, but that’s when all the problems started for Richburg.

Tomlinson must not have fully appreciated just how much of an animal Donald is on that play. Or maybe he doesn’t like Richburg very much. What I know for sure is that once Donald made his inside move with a quick jab olé and arm over, Tomlinson decided to look outside to see if Staley needed help with the edge rusher instead of clamping down hard on Donald’s outside half to help Richburg keep him off their quarterback.

I kinda understand why Tomlinson did it. Most of the time when you have a center sliding your way and you can get the three-technique to come inside, the guard has the luxury of looking outside to help his tackle first, However, there should be an addendum that says “not when the defensive tackle is Aaron Donald.”

And let me be clear here, Tomlinson only looked outside for a split second. It didn’t take him very long at all to see that Staley didn’t need any help and to turn back to try to help Richburg. It was already too late.

Donald took his right hand and grabbed Richburg’s left wrist, while he simultaneously stabbed Richburg dead in the chest with his left hand. Then Donald tossed Richburg back at Beathard so hard that the impact of Richburg being thrown into him sent the QB flying through the air just as he was trying to deliver the ball.

I honestly have no idea how in the world Beathard managed to maintain control of the ball without fumbling on that play. It had to be something close to a miracle that he was able to do so.

Aaron Donald was able to sack a dude with another dude on a play where he technically beat a double team.

The guy’s an alien, I’m convinced.

The Rams were up 22-7 at halftime, but San Francisco’s lone score came right at the end of the first half. I’m sure the 49ers felt good about themselves headed into the locker room and probably felt like they had a shot at a comeback if they could just keep the momentum going.

Yeah ... that didn’t happen.

Before I explain why, I have a question.

Raise your hand if you have ever seen a pass rusher swat a quarterback in the back so hard with one hand that he was able to knock him down for a sack?

*raises hand*

It definitely isn’t something I see on a regular basis. Rare would actually be the word that comes to mind. Very rare.

I saw it with my own two eyes when I watched film of San Francisco’s first play from scrimmage after half time.

I guess the 49ers wanted to start off the second half with a bang and try to take a shot down the field, so they cooked up a play-action pass for that purpose. They had two backs and a tight end in the game, 21 personnel, and they initially lined up in with Kittle flexed a little bit outside of left tackle Joe Staley and Juszczyk offset to the left side.

After the ball was snapped, however, the offensive line didn’t give much of a run look at all and Beathard didn’t even fake the handoff. If they were trying to fool somebody, they had a strange way of showing it.

The 49ers kept Juszczyk and Morris in to block after they carried out their run fakes and only sent three eligible receivers down the field. All three were essentially double covered, because, as I said, the play fake didn’t fool anybody. Therefore, Beathard needed to try to buy a little time to try to let the receivers adjust their routes and to get open.

Time, however, was not a luxury he was afforded. Not with Donald in the game.

Up front, the Rams gave a four-man line look before the snap with Matt Longacre lined up as the left edge rusher, Donald as the left three-technique, Ndamukong Suh as the one-technique nose tackle on the right side of the center and Michael Brockers as the right five-technique. Samson Ekubam was lined across from the flexed Kittle, looking like he was going to drop into coverage.

After the snap, however, Longacre was the one who dropped into coverage while Ekubam rushed off the right edge. Brokers and Donald both had to stunt to their left to try to even up the pass rush lanes. Donald was able to punch McGlinchey in the chest as he looped around to the outside, and that punch was so powerful it pushed McGlinchey back and forced him to turn his shoulders perpendicular to the line of scrimmage at the same damn time. With McGlinchey turned that way, it gave Donald a shorter corner to get around. But, you see, Donald was not in a going around mood.

Once he saw that McGlinchey was turned and a little over extended, Donald, who kept his hips turned toward the quarterback throughout the pass rush, exploded right into his man and put his helmet right up under McGlinchey’s chin. Then, Donald mashed the gas and dump trucked McGlinchey all the way back to Beathard.

The funny thing here is because of the way the 49ers tried to block the Rams, Juszczyk ended up having to take on Ekubam one-on-one off the defense’s right edge. Ekubam decided to come inside of Juszczyk’s block, and in doing so, for the briefest moment, appeared to have provided Beathard with an escape route by giving up containment.

Just as Beathard tried to take off running way, Donald paused rag-dolling McGlinchey long enough to take a big swing with his left arm and swat Beathard in his back, up near his shoulder, hard AF.

That, combined with Donald’s foot getting tangled up with Beathard’s, sent the beleaguered quarterback stumbling and bumbling to the ground for a loss of nine yards. Had he been able to keep his balance, Beathard would have had a lot of green grass to work with, but, in fairness, it is kinda hard to keep your feet when a grizzly bear smacks you in the back.

The last outstanding Donald play I want to highlight is when he took Beathard down again with just under 14 minutes left in the game. The 49ers were backed up on their own nine-yard line after forcing the Rams to punt.

The circumstances of Donald’s third of four sacks that day were actually very similar to the circumstances of the second sack I just described above. Instead of two backs and a tight end, this time they had two tight ends and one back, 12 personnel. But, once again, they were trying to use play action to take a shot down the field. Instead of an I-far formation, this time they lined up in shotgun with Brieda offset to Beathard’s right and, initially, a tight end on each side of the formation. Before the snap, however, Kittle motioned across from the offense’s right side of the formation to the left side and ended up in the slot outside of the backup tight end, Garrett Celek, who was lined up off the ball and right outside of Staley like a wing or H Back.

On the snap, the offensive line was supposed to show zone blocking to the offense’s left, while Celek came across the formation to kick out the edge rusher. That was supposed to give the illusion of a split zone look. Breida, in turn, was supposed to carry out the run fake across and then go looking to help the offensive line with any pass rushers or blitzers in the direction he was running.

The Rams defense was showing a five-man line, but this time both Longacre and Ekubam were rushing along with Donald, Suh, and Brokers. I believe Longacre was supposed to fall underneath Donald while he stunted outside, kind of like a quick TEX game. What ended up happening was that because of the look the 49ers were trying to show, when Donald stunted outside, McGlinchey was caught off guard as he was trying to block down inside to give that zone look.

McGlinchey probably should’ve just left Donald for Celek, as he became the edge rusher that Celek was supposed to block anyway. But, maybe because he was unsure of his assignment or maybe because he was sure Celek couldn’t possibly handle Donald one-on-one, McGlinchey tried to step back outside to help block him.

It did not go well.

Donald is just so damn quick that once he hit McGlinchey with that arm over, then came through with a chop to finish off the move and knock McGlinchey’s hand off, McGlinchey was a non-factor the rest of that play. He was already cooked and no amount of reaching out for Donald or diving after him was going to change that.

Donald didn’t even so much as break stride when he saw Celek coming to try to block him. He just adjusted his angle a little at the last moment before there was contact, then dipped and ripped right under Celek’s outside arm.

While all that was going on, Brockers, who had started off as the right five-technique again, shot up the field and underneath Staley’s reach block so that Tomlinson had to try to block him. The operative word here being ”try.”

Brokers was in the backfield so quickly that Tomlinson simply couldn’t catch up before Brokers was already around his outside edge. Brieda, as he was supposed to, finished out his run fake, then tried hurry over to help out Tomlinson, but Brokers ended up running through Breida like he was wet tissue paper. One ply.

After seeing Beathard sandwiched between Breida, who was being manhandled by Brokers, and Donald, I’m pretty sure that was one of the best representations I’ve ever encountered of the euphemism about being “stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

With no where to escape, Beathard was easily taken down by Donald for a loss of five yards. That loss helped force San Francisco to have punt three plays later.

I really wish I was a better writer because maybe then I could actually come close to capturing just how amazing of a football player Aaron Donald is. It’s just so hard to describe what he does on that field on a weekly basis and actually do it justice with words. Then again, maybe there aren’t many words that can truly reflect just how dominant he is these days. Honestly, if he snapped his fingers right now before a play I’d have start looking around to make sure half of the opposing offensive line didn’t start withering away.

Maybe I can’t fully do his play justice in this column, but what I can do is award him my Hoss Of The Week honors for Week 7 of this NFL season.

After watching him rack up four sacks, two tackles for a loss, three other tackles, a caused fumble, a fumble recovery, and one other pressure, this was probably the easiest choice I have ever had to make since coming up with this award.