Rams coach Sean McVay was pleased with how defensive tackle Aaron Donald played on Monday night, in his first game back after being retired for two years.
“I can’t even think of the words to say the love and respect I have for who he is,” McVay said. “He does everything the right way. I think the cool thing is his standards — he’ll be excited about where he can improve. But pretty impressive to be off almost 1,000 days, come back and play the defensive line position, 30-plus snaps, make your impact felt tremendously, still eliciting double and triple teams because of who he is. That’s Aaron Donald for you. Never ceases to amaze me.”
McVay said it was obvious that Donald kept himself in shape during his retirement, but that Donald still has things he can improve as the season goes on.
“He still is taking great care of himself, the hard work pays off,” McVay said. “And I think the best is yet to come from him.”
McVay said he personally was pumped up seeing Donald run out of the tunnel, and that he could tell Donald’s teammates and the crowd were getting pumped up, too.
“You get goosebumps,” McVay said. “It elevated everybody, and that’s what the greats do.”