INGLEWOOD — Aaron Donald displays all the physical tools to dominate the line of scrimmage. What he doesn’t show is a finger of blame to point at teammates in the locker room.
If the All-Pro defensive tackle was tempted to pin the Rams’ 23-20 loss Sunday to the San Francisco 49ers on the mistake-prone offense, he didn’t do it, not in so many words.
“Anytime we make mistakes as a team, (we’re) going to be down,” Donald said of the Rams’ two fumbles and two Jared Goff interceptions in their first eight offensive possessions against the 49ers.
“But we’ve got to keep playing and trying to get the momentum back. There’s going to be good days, there’s going to be bad days. You expect that in the game of football.
“We’ll just try to eliminate that and play better football as a team.”
Donald used the phrase “as a team” a third time during a 3 1/2-minute Zoom chat with reporters after the loss at SoFi Stadium.
Wide receiver Cooper Kupp said the Rams wouldn’t turn on each other even though the defense has seemed to be carrying the team for most of the season.
“It’s not about one side carrying the other, it’s about playing off each other and playing for each other,” Kupp said. “We know the defense has our back, that they’re going to continue to ball out no matter what’s going on on the offensive side of things, and they know we’ve got the same mentality on our side of things.
“That’s not going to change. Regardless of how this played out, or the feelings in this locker room right now, this isn’t about turning against each other or separating into three different groups. We are the Rams, and that’s going to stay true no matter what.
“I have full confidence in the guys in this room. We love each other too much, we play for each other, we grind with each other. It’s going to be a beautiful thing to be able to get back to work.”
Donald and the defense kept the Rams in the game, and then turned it around after the 49ers led 17-3 late in the third quarter.
Donald’s tip of a Nick Mullens pass led to a Jordan Fuller interception with the 49ers across the 50 in the first quarter. Donald forced a fumble that Troy Hill ran in for a touchdown that cut the 49ers’ lead to 17-13. And his sack on the first play of the Niners’ next series helped the Rams get the ball back and score their only offensive touchdown and briefly lead.
The Rams kept an opponent out of the end zone in the second half for the ninth time in 11 games. This is the third time it wasn’t enough.
The Rams are 7-4, the 49ers 5-6.
“In this game of football, it don’t matter the record of a team or who you’re playing against,” Donald said. “You make mistakes, it’s going to be hard to come back from that.
“We’ve got to play better as a team and find a way to win.”
NUMEROLOGY
With the loss, the Rams still haven’t won three games in a row since the opening weeks of the 2019 season.
Rookie running back Cam Akers had a season-high 84 yards and his first rushing touchdown a week after catching his first touchdown pass.
Donald had one sack, four hits on the quarterback and five total tackles after having zero sacks or tackles for two games in a row for the first time in his career.
Troy Reeder had another big game replacing Micah Kiser (on injured reserve with a knee injury). Reeder led the Rams with 15 tackles, 12 of them solo. He had three sacks at Washington in an earlier fill-in role.
San Francisco’s Deebo Samuel led all receivers with 11 catches for 133 yards. Niners cornerback Richard Sherman led his team with seven tackles and had an interception in his return from IR.
WHERE THEY STAND
The Rams (7-4) lost the NFC West lead to Seattle (7-3) but would get it back if the Seahawks lose at Philadelphia on Monday night.
The Rams hold the first tiebreaker over the Seahawks, having beaten them head to head two weeks ago.
NEXT
The Rams go to Phoenix on Sunday, Dec. 5 to play the Arizona Cardinals, who are 6-5 after losing at New England.
It’s the first of the Rams’ and Cardinals’ two meetings in the upcoming month.
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Rams, Aaron Donald try to avoid finger-pointing after loss - OCRegister
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