We knew that Sunday night's tilt between the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams would resemble a game between veritable heavyweights. Setting the controversial "ref show" ending, it's clear that these two teams match up well on paper. This could very well be the pairing we see in Super Bowl 61 this February, which would be a treat for the football world.
One of the more intriguing individual 1-on-1 matchups was between Broncos All-Pro guard Quinn Meinerz and future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald. After a two-year absence, the 35-year-old Donald is, of course, not the same wrecking ball he was when he was younger. At least, not right now, anyway. Still, anyone who visibly dominates a living legend like Donald, even on a single play, is going to raise
some eyebrows. Sometimes, it might even be attention you don't actually want.
Enter Meinerz, who made a highlight-reel "pancake" block on Donald that everyone raved about on Sunday night:
Quinn Meinerz vs. Aaron Donald pic.twitter.com/NDn1IsU39n
— RG 📷 (@RyanGreeneDNVR) September 28, 2026
Hoo boy. It's not often you see titans such as Donald humbled like that, if ever. Meinerz's block was so jarring (even though he's certainly the better player at this point in his and Donald's respective careers) that it drew the spotlight from a necessary "evil": the folks who conduct performance-enhancing drug tests for the NFL.
Of course this happened after he embarrassed Donald a little bit. Just, of course:
LOL Quinn Meinerz was selected for a Performance Enhancing Substance test today after throwing Aaron Donald to the ground last night. pic.twitter.com/q0ctivOG6b
— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevens) September 28, 2026
The test isn't necessarily related to Meinerz's pancake on Donald. A lot of the time, the candidates for these drug tests are truly selected at random. But it is convenient that Meinerz, who was a First-Team All-Pro in each of the last two seasons, gets picked right after everyone saw him plant one of the best football players of all time into the turf. It's ... convenient. Yeah, let's go with that.
If anything, Meinerz should be somewhat honored by this attention. That means people are likely taking more notice of how great a guard he really is for one of the NFL's premier offensive lines.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Pancaking Aaron Donald leads to convenient NFL drug test for Broncos All-Pro
