Rams WR Puka Nacua makes splash in surprise return to field

INGLEWOOD — Shortly after telling reporters Monday not to expect receiver Puka Nacua to come off injured reserve for Thursday night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sean McVay got a visit from vice president of sports medicine Reggie Scott.

And the head athletic trainer had some surprising news for the Rams’ head coach.

“Reggie doesn’t throw it out there unless he knows it’s probably a good chance,” McVay said. “He said, ‘I think Puka might have a good chance to go.’”

McVay assumed that meant for Week 9 against the Seattle Seahawks. But that was not what Scott nor Nacua had in mind after the receiver had missed five games with a PCL sprain. The second-year receiver had a workout Tuesday, and looked good. He looked good in Wednesday’s jog through. Suddenly, a Thursday night return seemed like a real possibility.

“Once you tease me, you’re going,” McVay joked.

There was no tease in the way Nacua played in Thursday’s 30-20 win. He led the team with 106 receiving yards (the eighth 100-yard game of his short career), making seven catches on nine targets – all coming within quarterback Matthew Stafford’s first 12 passing attempts. Nacua caught balls at the line of scrimmage on screen plays and took them for more than 10 yards after the catch. He dove to break up the occasional errant pass from Stafford, and leaped to try and make acrobatic plays.

In other words, it didn’t look like that knee was a problem for him at all.

“I thought it was really impressive. Puka’s had one practice,” receiver Cooper Kupp said. “It was really cool to see him and Matthew connect like they were and for him to just feel confident out there. It’s kind of the Puka we’ve all seen before.”

Nacua even got involved in the Rams’ run blocking. He got to the second level to spring a couple of big gains for running back Kyren Williams, including a seal block on a linebacker to spring a pivotal fourth-down conversion on the Rams’ final touchdown drive of the game.

“To get back blocking for Kyren felt freaking amazing,” Nacua said.

It’s been a long six weeks for Nacua to get to this point. The receiver played through a litany of bumps and bruises to stay on the field for all 17 games during his record-breaking rookie season. But this injury, suffered in the first half of the Rams’ season-opening loss in Detroit, was not something that could be ignored.

He spent six weeks mostly in the training room, trying to stay focused in his recovery efforts.

“They’ve been one day at a time,” Nacua said. “That feels like it’s been my motto that I’ve been trying to keep and especially in rehab was something that kept me going. And then also being able to invest in other relationships; Steve Avila, we came in together and then guys like Jonah Jackson and [Derion Kendrick], guys who have been in the training room, being able to invest in those relationships too because we were in the same boat. It gives you confidence when you see somebody else fighting their battle every day and coming in like, man, I’m ready to get better.”