The Rams, Bengals use the postseason defense to enter the ring in Super Bowl LVI

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Super Bowl LVI won’t have Tom Brady or Bill Belichick, but it will have a positional GOAT and an upstart team that has gotten up to it in large part because it has made a defensive adjustment for the ages.

Aaron Donald, the sport’s GOAT in defensive tackle, will seek his first ring next Sunday when the Los Angeles Rams face the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.

Meanwhile, Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo will try to erase Matthew Stafford’s rags-to-riches feel-good story in the same way he and his underrated defense stoned Patrick Mahomes and the explosive Chiefs in the second half and overtime of the AFC Championship Game in Kansas City.

When it comes to defense in this game, the regular-season numbers don’t tell the story. The Rams and Bengals are ranked 17th and 18th, respectively, in yards allowed, and 16th and 17th, respectively, in points allowed.

In the postseason, however, both teams give up fewer than 20 points a game while celebrating takeaways. The Bengals have the highest postseason in takeaways (seven) and interceptions (six). The Rams had five takeaways, including an interception winner with the 49ers in the final minutes of the NFC Championship Game.

In a star-studded defense that included Von Miller, Leonard Floyd and Jalen Ramsey, it was Donald who had the pressure-one of his five in the game-that caused Jimmy Garoppolo to flip the errant backhanded pass pick.

This is the first postseason forced turnover of Donald’s brilliant career. He was 6-3 in the playoffs, including a 13-3 loss to Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII three years ago.

“You have a lot of D-tackles that are strong and hard that way, and some that are fast,” said Bengals coach Zac Taylor, who was the Rams ’assistant coach in 2017-18. “He’s the same and he just has a very good mindset and football IQ as well. And so you combined all of that into one of the best players of all time.

“There’s no question about that, you know, just watching him train, watching him train, playing against him.… I watched him play when I was a quarterback coach. [in Cincinnati] on the sideline and it’s one of the few times you just watch a defensive tackle. Your eyes are on him and nothing else. “

In NFL history, 25 players have been named first-team All-Pro seven or more times. Twenty -four of them are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The 25th was Donald, a 30-year-old who accumulated his seven All-Pro first-team nods in just eight seasons.

His three NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards are tied with Lawrence Taylor and JJ Watt for the most time. On defensive tackles, Donald needs another first-team All-Pro selection to overtake Randy White and Bob Lilly by the very end of time. That would also tie Bruce Smith and Reggie White together for the most time as a defensive lineman.

As for the Bengals, no football coach has had a better run since halftime of Week 17 than Anarumo, a 55-year-old third-year defensive coordinator. His defense kept the top-seeded Titans at 16 points and beat Mahomes and the Chiefs in halftime adjustments not once, but twice.

The Bengals followed the Chiefs with 11 points in Week 17 and again in the AFC Championship Game. They gave up 28 points in the first half in Weeks 17 and 21 of the AFC title game.

Pero

Mahomes and perhaps the league’s most explosive offense scored just six points in total after halftime while losing both games. In the AFC title game, the Chiefs ’first five second-half possession got 34 yards and two first downs. It happened after Kansas City’s four first-half possession got 311 yards, 18 first downs and three touchdowns.

Per NextGen Stats, Anarumo dropped eight defenders in coverage to 24% of first-half pass plays before nearly doubling that total to 45% in the second half. Mahomes had time to throw up, but was too confused or too impatient to check.

Faced only with a three-man rush in the second half, Mahomes was 7-of-13 for 59 yards, an interception and two sacks. He was denied four times in total at half, twice by Sam Hubbard.

“Sam was one of those people who got up,” Anarumo said. “Those D-linemen have an incredible job trying to contain [Mahomes]. He runs them ragged and they never relented. None of them.

“You could see the inner fortitude of those guys in front, especially led by Sam. They weren’t going to give up no matter what. You can win a lot of games with guys like them.”

And the GOATS just like Donald.

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