Sunday to Sunday

Whitner rips Donald, believes 49ers made him ‘quit' in win

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In the week leading up to the 49ers' "Sunday Night Football" game against the Los Angeles Rams, most pundits were worried about how Kyle Shanahan's team would handle Aaron Donald.

The goal was the contain the All-Pro defensive tackle.

But the 49ers did the unthinkable. They stopped Donald. Literally. They stopped the best defensive player in the world and beat the Rams 24-16.

"Shoutout to the 49ers' offensive line," NBC Sports Bay Area analyst Donte Whitner said during "49ers Postgame Live" after the win. "They manhandled Aaron Donald today. I saw him on the sideline pouting, cussing, fussing. And that's what you're supposed to do.

"You're not supposed to lay down for guys like that. You're supposed to stand up, put two guys on him and make sure that you make him pay in the run game and the pass game. Great job for the 49ers' offensive line."

According to Next Gen Stats, the Rams pressured 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo two times on his 33 dropbacks. TWO times. Both were by Donald, who entered the game with a league-leading 7.5 sacks.

The 49ers took Donald completely out of the game.

"I saw the determination," Whitner said. "I saw the want-to to get a guy blocked. I didn't see guys shying away from the contact, shying away from the individual matchups. They understood that the lights were on today and everybody was watching. And you don't want to be that guy that gets embarrassed and give up four sacks to this guy like they did last week.

"They double-teamed him [in] the running game. They double-teamed him in the pass game. They always had eyes on Aaron Donald, to where they almost made him quit today. I've never said this about him. I've never seen him play like he did today. But today, I feel like Aaron Donald quit late in this game."

RELATED: 49ers prove pundits wrong by beating Rams

After back-to-back bad losses to the Philadelphia Eagles and the Miami Dolphins, the 49ers bounced back in a big way with an impressive win. Not only did they beat a team ahead of them in the NFC West standings, but they made the most dominant defensive player on the planet inconsequential.

Not bad for a day's work.

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