Puka Nacua’s touchdown reception against New England ranks as the sixth-most improbable completion in the NFL this year.
Puka Nacua’s game-changing abilities have been put on display since his return from injury and all those who have watched the Rams this season can clearly see the difference in LA’s offense when he is on the field.
There are so many elements to his game that give the Rams a boost, but perhaps his playstyle is the driving force behind the team’s return to .500 this season.
He plays fast, with incredible intensity and always without fear. In the NFL, players like that are the difference between defeat and victory as was the case last Sunday against New England. In the Rams’ 28-22 win over New England, it was Nacua’s statistically improbable touchdown reception that was remembered as one of the best plays of the day.
According to Next Gen Stats, Nacua’s 12-yard touchdown catch had a completion probability of just 13.4%. It ranked as the most improbable completion of Week 11 and is the sixth-most improbable catch in the NFL this year.
Nacua’s score gave the Rams their first lead of the game, a lead Los Angeles would not concede for the rest of the day.
Puka Nacua was shaken up after his touchdown catch, but not because he was hurt. He just needed to throw up after landing on the ball.
Puka Nacua has given Rams fans far too many scares this season. Between his two knee injuries in training camp and Week 1, and then his third in practice before Week 9, he’s seemed to get banged up throughout the year.
He appeared to get hurt again on Sunday against the Patriots when he landed hard on his 12-yard touchdown catch in the end zone. He was slow to get up and was looked at by trainers on the field before going into the medical tent for further evaluation.
He returned on the Rams’ next drive, so everything checked out fine, and Sean McVay explained what actually happened during his postgame press conference.
“They were just being cautious with him because he threw up,” McVay said. “He fell on the ball and he’s crazy like that. There wasn’t anything with his head so he’s OK.”
Nacua is building an unfortunate history of throwing up. He puked on the sidelines during a game last season, threw up repeatedly on Cooper Kupp’s lawn while they were working out this summer and now this.
It’s not his fault he landed on the ball and made what was a spectacular catch. It just happened to be the way he went to the ground.
All that matters is he’s good to go after another 100-yard performance.
Puka Nacua has his first touchdown of 2024 and it’s a spectacular one.
Puka Nacua has finally gotten back into the end zone for the Rams this season. In his fourth game of the year, Nacua scored his first touchdown of 2024.
It came on a spectacular diving catch in the end zone, a 12-yard score against the Patriots on Sunday. He went full extension near the edge of the end zone and stayed inbounds, a terrific grab by the second-year receiver.
Nacua was shaken up on the play and was checked out by trainers after he was unable to make his way back to the sideline initially, receiving attention in the end zone.
Puka Nacua would give the Patriots a proven top wide receiver talent
The Los Angeles Rams have explosive players on both sides of the ball, and the New England Patriots will have their work cut out trying to contain them in Sunday’s game.
However, one player in particular who would fit well with the Patriots is All-Pro wide receiver Puka Nacua. He is my pick for this week’s “Gimme Him.”
Nacua is the kind of playmaker that could help the Patriots’ receiving corps get to that next level. That’s obviously assuming he’s healthy. The numbers are a bit down this year for the 23-year-old wideout, but he missed five games with a knee injury.
He is starting to find his groove once again. He had one of his best games of the season on October 24 against the Minnesota Vikings by recording seven catches for 160 yards. In his last outing against the Miami Dolphins, he hauled in nine catches for 98 yards.
The 2023 campaign would be a better assessment of his body of work. He recorded 105 catches for 1,486 yards and six touchdowns on the year. Right out of the gates, he quickly established himself as one of the most dynamic receiving weapons in the NFL.
It wasn’t just the numbers that were impressive, either. It was his efficiency while doing it. He caught 65.6 percent of his passes last season and averaged 9.29 yards per target, per statistics from Pro Football Reference.
Putting him on the Patriots would give rookie quarterback Drake Maye another weapon to throw to on offense. The outlook of the Patriots’ receivers unit is much different than it was a month ago. There’s hope with players like Demario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte on offense.
Nacua could be an addition that helps ensure future success for the unit. Of course, this is very much a dream scenario. The Patriots are currently stuck building around what they already have.
Their focus now shifts towards slowing down Nacua, Cooper Kupp and every other weapon on the Rams’ offense on Sunday.
Puka Nacua was hit with a fine for punching a Seahawks linebacker last week, which got him ejected from the game
Puka Nacua headed to the locker room early last Sunday after he punched Seahawks linebacker Tyrell Dodson during the second quarter. Nacua’s ejection came with less than a minute remaining in the first half, displaying some uncharacteristic behavior that Sean McVay called a “learning opportunity.”
On a pass headed toward Nacua, Matthew Stafford was intercepted by Tariq Woolen. While Woolen was attempting to return the ball, Dodson pushed Nacua despite both men no longer being involved in the play and Nacua responded with a right jab to Dodson’s helmet.
In addition to being ejected, the NFL handed down another punishment punishment as Nacua’s paycheck took a slight deduction. He was fined $5,424 for the incident.
Rams WR Puka Nacua was fined $5,424 for his unnecessary roughness penalty against the Seahawks
Puka Nacua thinks he could score 8 points in an NBA game but Cooper Kupp says there’s no way
Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua are good basketball players. Kupp played against Zach LaVine in high school and shut him down, while Nacua played in the NBA All-Star celebrity game as a rookie and actually shined.
Given their basketball backgrounds, the two of them sat down with Quentin Lake for a new web series, “Right on Q.”
Lake asked the two receivers to give their projected stat lines if they were to play 30 minutes in an NBA game. Kupp took the conservative route, focusing solely on defense: three steals, eight rebounds and two points in 30 minutes for the Lakers.
Nacua was more optimistic. He says he could score eight points and grab four boards, along with one steal and two blocks. Oh, and 3-4 fouls because he’s being aggressive when guards go to the basket.
Kupp says there’s no way Nacua is scoring eight points in an NBA game and it led to the funnies debate between the two of them.
“What do you think your percentage three-pointer would be? If you played consistently, what’s your percentage?” Kupp asked.
“Don’t say 30,” Lake mumbled.
“That’s what I was about to say. I was about to say like 29,” Nacua replied.
“You know how good 30 is?” Lake said.
The whole conversation is quite funny, hearing Kupp and Nacua go back and forth about how they’d fare in an NBA game if ever given the opportunity. And if you stick around, you’ll see the two of them go shot for shot on a mini hoop, which is pretty good, too.
Puka Nacua, NBA point guard? He doesn’t think it’d be hard at all to make the jump to the NBA.
There was a whole debate back in May when Austin Rivers claimed there are 30 NBA players who could play in the NFL. The conversation seemed to go on forever, with multiple former NFL players calling Rivers out for what they thought was a ridiculous statement.
Well, Puka Nacua is about to reignite that fire with a bold statement of his own.
As a guest on Cooper Kupp and Matthew Stafford’s “Nine and Dime” show, Nacua was asked whether going from the NFL to NBA or vice versa is easier. He left no doubt about where he stands on the debate.
“I think it would be so easy to transition from the NFL to NBA. Like, less than three months,” he said confidently. “Probably 3-6 months, I truly believe I could transition to play point guard or shooting guard for one of the (30) teams in the NBA.”
He then buried the Pistons with a haymaker.
“If I go to the Detroit Pistons, if that’s where I know I’m going, you’re going to play me 15 minutes. If I go to, like, the Lakers, no, I’m going to be the 15th man. Like, when we go 72-9, I’ll play the last game of the season.”
He’d make sure to celebrate appropriately after every bucket, too.
“I will have the best three-point celebrations you’ve ever seen. The handshakes? Let me get a handshake with LeBron!” he said.
As bold as Nacua’s claim is, Kupp actually agreed with him – to an extent.
“I agree with Puka in the preliminary stage of the question. I believe that’s the direction that’s easier,” Kupp said. “… There’s a very physical element moving from the NBA to NFL. There’s a very skill-oriented aspect to going the other direction.”
He continued, throwing some water on Nacua’s statement.
“I will say this, Puk: I think that you, specifically, could do it. Not in 3-6 months. But I do believe you could one day make it happen…in Lithuania,” Kupp said.
Nacua wants a shot with Stan Kroenke’s Nuggets, only asking for a workout and an opportunity.
“Make a pitch to Mr. Kroenke, you know? Send me up to the Mile High city, man. Give me a workout. Let me see what it looks like because I can use five fouls very, very well,” Nacua said with a laugh.
Nacua can actually ball a little bit. He played in the NBA celebrity game last year and threw down a few impressive dunks, showing he has hops.
His handles are solid, too, especially for a guy who doesn’t play basketball for a living.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/09zT2bPa3Ig
It’s not going to happen, but Nacua might be one of the few guys in the NFL who could actually score a few buckets in the NBA.
Take a look at the tiny TV Puka Nacua had to watch the Rams’ win on after getting ejected
Unfortunately for Puka Nacua, the 2024 season has involved more watching than playing for the Rams receiver. Between his knee injuries and Sunday’s ejection, he’s been unable to finish seven of the Rams’ eight games this season.
After getting disqualified from Sunday’s game against the Seahawks, Nacua was forced to watch the Rams’ thrilling 26-20 overtime win from Lumen Field’s visitor’s locker room – a locker room that isn’t well-equipped for someone trying to watch the game.
Nacua had to watch the second half of the game on a tiny TV in the corner of the room. To make matters worse, he said the TV only had the local Seattle broadcast on, so the announcers favored the Seahawks.
“They got the Seattle broadcast going up here with the FOX NFL game so I’m hearing the Kam Kinchens pick, the announcer’s screaming ‘no’ and I’m screaming ‘yes,’ so it was interesting in that aspect,” he said.
That didn’t stop Nacua from getting excited when his teammates made plays, even catching a police officer in the locker room off-guard.
“I may have overreacted. I caught him off-guard but overtime, a one-handed catch like that, it brought me out of my seat,” Nacua said.
During an interview with media members, Nacua showed the TV he had to watch the game on.
“It’s hard to see. I’m standing over here by somebody’s locker up on the chair, but it was crazy,” he said.
Puka Nacua has never been ejected before at any level. He watched the Rams OT walk off win in the locker room alone. Going crazy jumping up and down, pacing. The only other person in the locker room was a police officer who Puka said wasn’t happy with the outcome. “He’s been a… pic.twitter.com/6IMwyAFXkf
Puka Nacua was ejected for throwing a punch at a Seahawks defender. Here’s what Sean McVay said about it, including what he told the Rams WR.
Puka Nacua wasn’t able to finish Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks because he was ejected for throwing a punch in the second quarter. The incident occurred just before halftime after Matthew Stafford’s interception, a rare mental mistake by the Rams’ star receiver.
He ended the day with just one catch for 11 yards, but thankfully, the Rams were still able to come away with a win over their division rivals. Afterwards, Sean McVay mentioned that it’ll be a “great learning opportunity” for Nacua during his opening statement.
“It’ll be a great learning opportunity for Puka. He’s emotional. That’s one of the things we love about him, but he’ll be able to learn from that,” McVay said.
McVay was asked what he told Nacua after the ejection happened, and while the coach acknowledged it was a mistake, he doesn’t sound worried about his star receiver letting it linger.
He expects Nacua to learn from it and looks forward to him responding “the way I know he’s capable of.”
“We’re smarter than that,” McVay said of what he told Nacua. “Love him. I think the biggest thing you know about him is one of the best traits he has is the emotions and the way he loves competing with his teammates and doing everything that he can to contribute and also understand how important it is to what AD used to always call controlled aggression. He’ll learn from it. He is exactly the right kind of guy and this is a learning opportunity and we all make mistakes and I’m looking forward to seeing him respond the way I know he’s capable of.”
Nacua has played just three games this season and he was unable to finish two of them; in Week 1, he injured his knee in the first half and on Sunday, he was ejected. In the one game he did finish, he caught seven passes for 106 yards in Week 8 against the Vikings.
Rams WR Puka Nacua ejected for throwing punch at Seahawks LB Dodson
Whenever the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams play each other, you can almost always expect it to be a physical and chippy matchup. But sometimes, even by these two teams’ standards, it can get a little more intense.
Towards the end of the first half, trailing 6-3, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford uncorked a pass for second-year wide receiver Puka Nacua, which was intercepted by Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen. Three plays later, Geno Smith found his second-year receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a touchdown to give Seattle a 10-point lead.
But the touchdown was not the only thing Los Angeles suffered on the interception. After the ball was picked, Nacua was flagged for throwing a punch on Seahawks linebacker Tyrel Dodson. This was more than egregious enough for the officials to immediately disqualify Nacua from the rest of the game.
Puka Nacua has been ejected after seemingly throwing a punch
Nacua’s sophomore season has been a struggle so far. Nacua missed five games after Week 1 due to a PCL injury, and was only recently reactivated last week for Thursday Night Football against the Minnesota Vikings. Nacua was questionable going into this game, but ultimately was ready to suit up.
Although Nacua only caught one reception for 11 yards on four targets, his absence is a blow to Los Angeles’ offense… even if Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp is in the lineup.
