3 takeaways from Tuesday's conference calls: Thoughts on Aaron Donald, Sony Michel and Trey Flowers

What did we learn from Tuesday's conference calls with Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniels and Brendan Daly? Here are a few highlights:


1. One of the matchups that’s going to tell the story of Super Bowl LIII will be the Patriots ability to neutralize the Los Angeles’ defensive front. Led by Aaron Donald, the Rams’ front features multiple game-wreckers who have the ability to make it a long afternoon for whatever offensive line opposes them.

The Patriots have given Tom Brady terrific protection through the first two postseason games — the quarterback hasn’t been sacked in back-to-back playoff games in the same year for the first time since the 2004 postseason. But Belichick is well aware of the task that Donald and the rest of Los Angeles’ defensive front. Asked Tuesday what specifically stood out about Donald, Belichick bottom-lined it.

“Everything,” he replied. “He’s pretty much unblockable.”

Donald, the 2017 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, had a league-leading 20.5 sacks in 16 regular-season games in 2018. He also forced four fumbles. But he’s just part of the equation — Ndamukong Suh (4.5 sacks) is also part of the group, someone the Patriots’ are familiar with from his years in Miami with the Dolphins.

“They’re really good,” Belichick said of the Rams’ pass rushers. “They’ve got great inside power and quickness and they’ve got a great edge rush. They’ve got a lot of good players, a lot of guys that are hard to block.

“Yeah, they’re good. They do a really good job. (Defensive coordinator) Wade (Phillips) always does. He’s an excellent coach and he does such a great job with all of those guys there. They have a variety of players and they’re all a problem.”