Despite Week 1 loss, Aaron Donald remains number one

With only one game remaining before Week 1 is officially in the books, Aaron Donald may not lead the league in sacks, QB hits, or pressures just yet. He may be waiting for his first win of the season too. But as usual, as has been the case in each of the past five seasons, Aaron Donald is still the toughest defensive tackle in the NFL to contain as a pass rusher.

ESPN’s Seth Walder posted the Week 1 pass rush win rate stats on Monday morning and Donald’s 27.8-percent rate ranks first among all defensive tackles. Though there are other defensive tackles who had more QB hits and pressures, including Buffalo’s Jordan Phillips in the same game as Matthew Stafford was sacked seven times, nobody had a higher PRWR than AD.

Donald finished the night with a sack and it was clear that he was owning Bills right guard Ryan Bates, but Josh Allen could be the NFL’s most difficult quarterback to sack right now. Not only because of his athleticism but because of how quickly he was getting the ball out. Allen was averaging 1.9 seconds to throw on Thursday night.

The Rams’ Week 2 opponent, Marcus Mariota, was not sacked in Week 1. But he did fumble the ball twice, losing it once. Against Atlanta’s offensive line, Donald may yet rank first in sacks again before too long.