When Russell Wilson attempts to cook on Sunday, Aaron Donald will be the fly trying to ruin the soup.
Donald has wrecked Wilson's day more than any other defender, earning 12 sacks over the course of their careers, the most times anyone has taken down the Seahawks QB. Those 12.0 career sacks are second-most by a defender on a single QB since 2014, behind Saints DE Cameron Jordan's 14.5 on Matt Ryan. Donald's 33 career QB hits on Wilson are the most by any player versus an opposing QB since 2014.
Donald, however, focuses only on the times Wilson has slipped through his fingers.
"It's happened multiple times over my career playing against him, where I have him wrapped up and he finds a way to get the ball away," Donald said, via the L.A. Daily News. "He makes my job harder."
Wilson leads the NFL with 28 pass TDs this season. Donald has 9.0 sacks in 2020, tied for most in the NFL with Myles Garrett. This will be the 13th head-to-head matchup in the last 20 seasons between the individual pass TD leader and individual sacks leader (including players tied for first) in Week 9 or later (based on ranks entering the week), per NFL Research.
According to Next Gen Stats, Wilson has been pressured on 24.0 percent of dropbacks in 2020, 12th-lowest in NFL and the lowest pressure rate for Wilson in the last five seasons.
Donald leads interior pass rushers in QB pressures (38), sacks (9.0) and turnovers caused by pressure (3) this season.
Since 2016, Donald has 30 QB pressures on 202 pass rushes versus the Seahawks, for a 14.9 percent pressure rate. For reference, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year has a 14.1 percent pressure rate against all other teams over that same span.
The game-wrecker is aware that the Seahawks might cook up something different this time around.
"You never know what they're going to do against us. I'm sure they're going to throw things at us that we didn't see on film, or they didn't do (previously) this year," Donald said. "When we get the opportunity to rush the passer, we've got to make it count."
Sunday afternoon's matchup between the Seahawks and Rams will be massive in the heated race for the NFC West title. If Seattle wins, they pull further ahead. A Rams victory would push the top three teams in the division to at least three losses and might allow L.A. to leapfrog to the front of the pack depending on the outcome between Bills-Cardinals.
