Aaron Donald downplays swinging helmet in Rams-Bengals brawl

Rams‘ star defensive deal with Aaron Donald did not draw headlines for his common dominant play final week. 

The three-time Defensive Player of the Year was seen swinging a helmet at Bengals gamers throughout a brawl that broke out during a joint practice between the 2 Super Bowl groups from final season. Donald minimized the position he had in the brawl in an interview with the AP Pro Football Podcast on Wednesday.

“It was only a observe,” Donald mentioned. “It was soccer. I do not actually wanna return to nothing unfavourable that occurred and discuss one thing that occurred in a observe. My major focus is Buffalo.”

Later in the interview, Donald was requested if he addressed the matter together with his workforce and Rams coach following the battle. Donald solely mentioned “sure.”

Donald will not be subjected to punishment from the league for his conduct in the battle because it occurred during a practice. The helmet swing from Donald instantly drew comparisons to Browns star defensive finish Myles Garrett’s incident in 2019, when he took Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph’s helmet off and hit him in the top with it. Garrett was suspended six video games for his actions. 

Donald was one in every of at the very least a couple of gamers that obtained noticeably heated throughout the joint observe between the Rams and Bengals on Aug. 25. Bengals offensive deal with La’el Collins and Rams outdoors linebacker Leonard Floyd have been reportedly on the middle of a pair scuffles, together with the brawl that led to Donald’s helmet-swinging. 

With the battle behind him, Donald’s waiting for the common season. After considering retirement in the offseason, the seven-time All-Pro returned to the Rams on a brand new contract this offseason and is hoping to assist Los Angels turn into the primary workforce to win back-to-back Super Bowls in almost 20 years.

“Just attempting to relive all that over once more, attempting to perform that, being a world champion over again,” Donald mentioned. “That’s the most important motivation. I used to be motivated to get there, however when you accomplish that and also you get to see what that appears like, it makes you need it that rather more. So that is simply the motivation, simply to relive that over again.”

The Rams kick off the 2022 season subsequent Thursday (Sept. 8) at dwelling in opposition to the Bills.