ATLANTA — No one player is responsible for getting a team to the Super Bowl, yet no one player is more responsible for getting the Rams here than Aaron Donald.

How about that? In a season and an era when defense is supposed to be subservient to the bells and whistles and pyrotechnics of offenses league-wide, a defensive player has led the Rams to the brink of a championship.

“This is a dream come true,” Donald said Tuesday at the Rams team hotel in Buckhead, Ga. “As a kid, playing the backyard, you talk about one day playing in this. You’re just talking, you never know it’s gonna come full circle and you’re gonna be here today. Just happy, motivated, hungry, ready to get out there and play a game.

“A lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to this point. One more game to try to finish this thing strong and become a world champion.”

The buzz for Donald is not only because he is a social media sensation for the absurdly impressive Instagram pictures he posts showing off his shirtless physique. He is the most forceful defensive player preparing to step foot on the field Sunday inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium and likely the one Rams player Patriots coach Bill Belichick is most concerned about wrecking the game.

The Rams are all about youthful coach Sean McVay, youthful quarterback Jared Goff and a prolific scoring attack, but no one stands taller than Donald, even though almost everyone actually stands taller than Aaron Donald.

The best defensive player in the NFL measures in at 6 feet, and he is listed as weighing 280 pounds. What is printed on paper is not based in reality. Donald said he played this season at 265 pounds, which should preclude him from putting his hand in the ground and lining up inside at defensive tackle, among all the biggest and bulkiest players on the field.

“A fullback,” said Michael Brockers, the Rams full-sized (6-5, 305 pounds) defensive end, asked what position Donald looks like he should play. “Maybe a linebacker. Something like that.”

Donald lines up as the three-technique, which is the most desired spot on the interior of the defensive line, as it includes a heavy dose of pass-rush responsibility. He lines up on the outside shoulder of a guard, making it tougher to double-team him. Tougher, but certainly not impossible. You can be sure Belichick will not be foolish enough to ask any of his offensive linemen to block Donald one-on-one often, or at all.

What separates Donald from anyone else in the league is his explosive tendencies. He is one of the strongest players in the NFL even though he is one of the smallest at his position. Of course, “smallest” is all relative, as the pictures Donald posts with his shirt off inspire even the fittest of his teammates.

“He has like an eight-pack,” Brockers said. “I’m so jealous.”

Donald speaks softly and does not engage in the menacing talk that others who do what he does often throw around as warnings.

“God just blessed me with quickness and speed, I guess,” he said. “I’m able to see things and react certain ways, I try to slither through there and try to make a play.”

No one makes as many plays as Donald. He led the league with 20.5 sacks, becoming only the 12th player to ever reach 20 sacks in a season. He also led the league with 25 tackles for loss and with 41 quarterback hits. Donald missed getting a piece of Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record of 22.5 (set in 2001), but no player in NFL history has ever amassed more than the 183.5 sack yardage lost Donald piled on this season.

“Aaron has been unbelievable,” McVay said.

“I don’t know how he does it,” Rams running back Todd Gurley said. “He’s special. He has the power, the quickness. He’s the perfect size. He’s just a beast, he’s on another level when he’s on that field.”

Donald’s lack of height actually might be an advantage for him.

“If you think about it, the guys with the best leverage in football always win,” Brockers said. “When you got a guy 6-foot that can bench 500 pounds, lift a truck, nobody can defeat him. I’ve never seen any offensive lineman get under his pads, and I think that’s what’s so great about his game, his leverage.

“And just how fast he is. He knows he’s going to get the slide protection, he gets doubled most of the game and he still beats it. That surprises me all the time.”

Rams offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, during a 13-year career spent mostly with the Bengals, knocked heads with Donald as an opponent and continues to be in awe of what Donald does on a regular basis.

“He can do everything,” Whitworth said. “He can run by you, he can run you over, he can go underneath you. It’s just rare you find guys that have the ability to do all the above. I’d be hard pressed to find a better football player than him.”

Donald does bad things to quarterbacks, but there is no sense trying to get him to say bad things about his next target, Tom Brady. It is not the Aaron Donald way.

“We’ll get opportunities when he’s gonna have to hold the ball,” Donald said, “and we’re gonna have to get him down to the ground.”

Donald later this week will be selected as the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year — an award he will claim for the second consecutive season. He can add to his legacy by showcasing his skills in Super Bowl 53.

“You visualize making a game-changing play, that’s what you’re here for,” Donald said. “What better stage to do it than now?”