For better, and once again very much for worse, Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua was the center of attention in the team’s overtime loss Thursday night to the rival Seahawks.
Hours after Nacua apologized for practicing an antisemtic dance on a livestream this week with Adin Ross and N3on, the wide receiver played a central role in the Rams’ instant classic, shown on Amazon’s Thursday Night Football. Nacua caught 12 passes for a career-high 225 years and two touchdowns, though the Seahawks pulled off a miraculous comeback and toppled the Rams in overtime, 38–37.
The game, branded by many as the contest of the season in the NFL, delivered on the hefty anticipation going into it, and is expected to deliver a sizable audience number when figures are released early next week.
Nacua, however, quickly returned to controversy. After taking a shot at league referees in the earlier, ill-fated livestream, saying, “the refs are the worst,” Nacua then reiterated that complaint after the loss to Seattle, saying they helped hand the game to the Seahawks. In a now-deleted tweet, he said, “Can you say I was wrong? Appreciate you stripes for your contribution. Lol.”
The third-year pro later called the outburst a “moment of frustration.”
“Just thinking of the opportunities where I could have done better to take it out of their hands,” he said. “Just a moment of frustration.”
Nacua, the NFL leader in receptions and second in receiving yards, was fined $25,000 Friday, according to multiple reports, for the anti-referee comments. The sum is a tiny fraction of his $1.1 million salary this season, still part of his four-year, rookie-level contract.
After the initial video, the NFL issued a statement saying it “strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and derogatory behavior directed towards any group or individual.” The Rams similarly said, “There is no place in this world for antisemitism, as well as other forms of prejudice or hostility.”
The ongoing issues surrounding Nacua, however, continue to put his team in a position of having to respond, right in the middle of a march toward the playoffs. The Rams are one of three teams to have already clinched a postseason slot.
“I love him. We’re going to put our arm around him and help him learn and grow,” Rams coach Sean McVay said of Nacua. “But we never want to do things that ever offend anybody, and I know he feels that same way.”
