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          NFL Nation

          Morning Ram-blings: Donald showing up

          • Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff WriterSep 17, 2014, 08:00 AM ET
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              Nick Wagoner is an NFL reporter at ESPN. Nick has covered the San Francisco 49ers and the NFL at ESPN since 2016, having previously covered the St. Louis Rams for 12 years, including three years (2013 to 2015) at ESPN. In his 10 years with the company, Nick has led ESPN's coverage of the Niners' 2019 Super Bowl run, Colin Kaepernick's protest, the Rams making Michael Sam the first openly gay player drafted to the NFL, Sam's subsequent pursuit of a roster spot and the team's relocation and stadium saga. You can follow Nick via Twitter @nwagoner
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          EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The St. Louis Rams haven't had a lot of contributions from their rookie class in the first two weeks save for the work of starting cornerback E.J. Gaines, but one other Rams draft pick has started to make his presence felt.

          Defensive tackle Aaron Donald, the No. 13 overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft, was one of the team's most consistently impressive players during training camp and the preseason. He hasn't played a ton of snaps thus far, but when he's been on the field he's finding a way to make an impact.

          Over at 101sports.com, Anthony Stalter provided his three plays that helped the Rams to a win against Tampa Bay. All three plays were instrumental, but I wanted to focus on Stalter's mention of Donald and the consecutive plays he made that helped lead to the Buccaneers settling for a field goal instead of a touchdown.

          Donald disrupted back to back running plays by taking it to veteran guard Logan Mankins. They're the type of plays that won't draw much attention, and though Donald doesn't have any sacks yet, he's been as disruptive as advertised on the snaps he is getting.

          In fact, the Rams coaches credited Donald with a sack against Tampa Bay on a different play. Whether or not it should actually belong to Donald doesn't matter. He's performing well and has probably earned more playing time.

          I.C.Y.M.I.

          A roundup of Tuesday's Rams stories appearing on ESPN.com. ... In the Ram-blings, we opened the day with a link to Austin Davis' interview with on SVP and Russillo. ... The rookie review offered snap counts and production against Tampa Bay. ... We then examined tight end Cory Harkey's toughness and how the Rams get a boost from it. ... The Rams had a strange week on defense against the Bucs with an odd disparity between yards allowed on first and second down. ... The Rams moved up four spots to No. 28 in this week's ESPN Power Rankings.

          Elsewhere:

          Here's the full version of Tuesday's new ESPN Power Rankings.

          Kevin Seifert's weekly quarterback report.

          Eric Karabell offers some fantasy takeaways on the Rams through two weeks.

          Also at 101sports.com, here's yours truly talking it over on the Kevin Wheeler Show.

          At stltoday.com, columnist Bryan Burwell writes that Jeff Fisher is doing the right thing by avoiding quarterback controversy.

          Jim Thomas writes about Fisher not budging on the quarterback situation.