As the Rams enter the offseason, it's time to check out some of the team's top plays from the second half of the NFL season and postseason.
Here are the top five plays from defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
No. 5
Donald got in on the Rams' first quarter defensive dominance against quarterback Nick Mullens and the San Francisco 49ers in Week 17, with a quarterback hit that sent the ball end over end into the hands of safety Blake Countess for Mullens' second interception of the quarter.
Donald finished his final game of the regular season with four tackles, one for a loss, a sack, and two additional quarterback hits.
No. 4
While the Rams offense slowed coming off the bye in Week 13 against the Lions, Donald's defense remained disruptive.
Up just three midway through the fourth quarter, Donald put the ball back in quarterback Jared Goff's hands with an impressive strip-sack on quarterback Matthew Stafford. Donald worked past a double team in a mighty effort before lunging for Stafford and sending the ball to the Ford Field turf to be recovered by linebacker Samson Ebukam.
No. 3
Donald went without a sack in the postseason, but was busy in opponent's backfields nonetheless.
No. 99 recorded one of his three postseason tackles for loss late in the NFC Championship game, doing his part to hold the Saints to a field goal as the game clock approached zeros. Donald burst across the line of scrimmage and met running back Mark Ingram in the backfield for a loss of two as the Saints mounted the late-game drive. He would later bring down Ingram for a loss of six in overtime.
No. 2
The AP Defensive Player of the Year showed up in what felt like a midseason Super Bowl Week 11 in Los Angeles against the Chiefs. Donald strip-sacked quarterback Patrick Mahomes twice on Monday Night Football — one of which led to one of Ebukam's two defensive touchdowns on primetime.
No. 1
The fifth-year Ram and University of Pittsburgh product entered the record books in Week 16's game against the Cardinals.
Donald sacked rookie quarterback Josh Rosen three times in the winning effort — putting himself in the conversation surrounding former Giants defensive end Michael Strahan's NFL single-season sack record (22.5). Donald logged his seventh multi-sack game of the season in Arizona to become the NFL's all-time leader in single-season sacks for an interior lineman, as well as the Rams' all-time single-season leader in sacks.
He finished his season with a career-high 20.5 sacks.
