Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald grew up in Pittsburgh. He was a Steelers fan. His family was full of Steelers fans. He played college football at Pitt, which shares a stadium and a practice facility with the Steelers.
Donald and the Rams host the Steelers for the first time in L.A. on Sunday. On Thursday, he was asked if he’s feeling any emotions about playing the Steelers for the third time in his career.
“Not really,” Donald told reporters. “I was just talking to my dad like last week about playing the Steelers this week. He was asking me, ‘You get to play the hometown, how does it feel?’ I was like, ‘My first year [in 2015], I was excited about it.’ Obviously going back to Pittsburgh [in 2019], it was exciting, but now it’s just like, it’s cool to play against the team that I grew up watching and all that, but it’s just another week. [I] want to find a way to be successful, try to find a way to win this game but there’s not extra excitement this time playing against the Steelers, just another week.”
There should be a little extra excitement. Donald has never beaten the Steelers. He has played well in both games, getting a sack in each and notching a safety for the Rams during the 2019 game in Pittsburgh.
“We all grew up big Steelers fans,” Donald said of his family. “I still consider myself a Steelers fan, obviously, until we got to play them. I still look to see if they’re doing good. I’m still a Steelers fan myself until we got to suit up and play against them. So whole family is still Steelers fans, but now more Rams fans but it’s pretty cool.”
Donald still sees plenty of Steelers players in the offseason, while Donald works out at Pitt’s facility. He said he sees Steelers players practicing during the offseason.
“I see those guys a lot. [I] see Coach Tomlin out there. So yeah, it’s pretty cool.”
And, even if he won’t admit it, it adds something extra. They play once every four years. This likely will be the last time he plays them as a member of the Rams.
After Super Bowl LVI, when Donald was considering retirement, there was a belief in league circles that Donald wants to get back in the vicinity of Pittsburgh at some point in his career. He was asked on Thursday if he could see himself finishing his career with the Steelers.
“Not really,” Donald said. “I never thought of it. I never thought about it but no, no.”
So he never thought about playing in Pittsburgh during all those offseason months in Pittsburgh, working out on a regular basis in the vicinity of Steelers players? He never thought about playing for the Steelers, when his family is full of Steelers players?
Fine. He never thought about it. Plenty of others have. And whether it’s the Steelers or some other team in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, there has been a sense since Donald got his lone Super Bowl ring that, in time, he could be playing a lot closer to his hometown.
If not in it.