Rams' Aaron Donald Breaks Down Viral Muffed Fumble Opportunity

Los Angeles Rams defensive end Aaron Donald has been building his way back off a two-year layoff, and he has gotten better each week. Despite no sacks, he continues to get in the backfield to bring in tackles for loss.

Donald also had the opportunity to bring in a fumble recovery and potentially a defensive touchdown, but that did not happen. Instead, he knocked the ball out of bounds, leading to many coaches and players to give the future Hall of Famer a tough time.

During media availability on Thursday, Donald hilariously explained what went wrong during that moment. 

Donald has never had a defensive touchdown in all his years playing in the NFL, which is why he may have been a bit overzealous in attempting to scoop the ball up. 

While attempting to do so, Donald lost his footing and fell on top of the ball. This led to a Los Angeles Chargers offensive player getting the ball out of bounds.

Donald explained that he may have gotten a bit too excited about the chances of scoring his first-ever defensive touchdown, which led to his missing out completely on the fumble recovery.

"Boom. I seen the ball. First thing came to my head. 'Touchdown. I'm going to get this ball.' I should have slowed down, but I felt people behind me like I want to get hit in my back. That's going to hurt. So, I tried to go full speed and scoop it. The ball was going I thought the ball was going to bounce this way, but it bounced that way. And it just looked all damn silly," Donald said.

The viral moment led to many others, including fellow defensive end Myles Garrett being shown laughing hysterically while on the exercise bike on the sideline. 

Matthew Stafford was also mic'd up and commented on the difficulty that happens when players attempt to scoop and score a loose ball, especially at the age that the quarterback and Donald are at.

Donald also admitted that the defense was running through scoop drills in practice ahead of the team's Week 9 matchup with the Washington Commanders.

Missed opportunities happen in the NFL, and Donald was just attempting to tick off one of the accolades that have eluded him in his career thus far. He may get another chance at a defensive touchdown by season's end.

That might also be true now that Garrett is back with the team. He is also expected to be activated and to play in Week 9. If that is the case, he and Donald could pair up for some big plays on defense.

The NFL world has been waiting to see what Donald and Garrett can do together, and that is now set to happen on Sunday. Garrett missed Weeks 2 to 8 due to a nagging knee injury that led to surgery. 

Garrett returned to practice and will reportedly be activated to play against the Commanders.