Aaron Donald makes big stop in his return, helping Rams dominate Giants

Aaron Donald's second debut with the Los Angeles Rams was a success.

Donald took the field with the Rams on Monday night for their Week 2 win over the New York Giants, beating them 28-6 at SoFi Stadium.

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It marked the first time Donald played since he came out of retirement earlier this fall to rejoin the franchise. He finished the game with three tackles, including one big stop for loss in 32 snaps.

Donald played about two-thirds of the defensive snaps in the first half before tapering off his workload as the Rams' lead increased.

"It felt good," Donald said postgame to ESPN's Laura Rutledge. "Felt good to get that first game under my belt in two years. And it feels good we got a win."

After his first tackle, Donald told Rutledge he wanted to "go get another one." That he did.

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Donald's biggest impact play came late in the second quarter in a 14-3 game. He beat his block and knifed inside to to tackle running back Najee Harris for a 3-yard loss on third-and-2 at the Los Angeles 3-yard line.

It was the type of backfield-disrupting play the Rams envisioned when they re-signed Donald. The Giants settled for a field goal on the next down.

Rams head coach Sean McVay might have been coy throughout Donald's flirtation and when he'd see the field after his eventual return. But McVay couldn't contain his excitement after Monday's game.

"I didn't think it was by coincidence that the energy we played with [was higher]," McVay said. "… You get an opportunity to, 'Hey, just watch what I do, follow my freakin' lead,' and that's what this guy does. I love him."

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The Rams eventually put the Giants, who lost QB Jaxson Dart to injury, away in the fourth quarter.

The Rams' defense stepped up in their first game without Myles Garrett, who is on injured reserve, holding the Giants to 182 yards of offense and harassing backup QB Jameis Winston into an interception and an 11-for-27 passing night.

Donald's rousing pregame entrance

Rams fans welcomes Donald back with a deafening ovation when he took the field pregame, and he treated them with a full sprint into his teammates' arms.

"How about that entrance?" Rams QB Matthew Stafford said postgame to ESPN's Lisa Salters. "He came in, ran in, and I was jacked up, everybody was jacked up. It was a cool thing to see."

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Added McVay: "If you didn't get chills when he was introduced, then you're not freakin' alive."

Donald's wife and children blew kisses toward No. 99 during his entrance in his first game back in more than two years. The kids were even more excited than he was.

"It means everything," Donald told Rutledge. "They've been excited. They called me this morning at least 20 times. They were just ready to see daddy play football. To see my family here supporting me, it made it that much better."

Donald's path back to the Rams

Donald and the Rams announced late last month that they had reached a one-year, $20 million deal to bring him out of retirement. He missed the last two seasons after he retired in 2024 after a decade with the Rams, who first selected him with the No. 13 overall draft pick in 2014 when they were still in St. Louis.

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Donald racked up 111 sacks throughout his career. He had 53 total tackles during his final season in 2023, and he was a huge piece of the Rams' Super Bowl run during the 2021 campaign.

Donald said he had been locked into his training for months leading up to the announcement, and he has been ramping back up to play again since. He did not play in the Rams' season-opener against the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, and instead remained in California to keep preparing.

McVay said before that game that he thought Donald would be ready to play "sooner rather than later," but he wasn't sure when that would be.

Clearly, that extra week ended up being all Donald needed.

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