Rams receiver Puka Nacua made an awesome, diving touchdown reception in New England on Sunday. After he landed, he was slow to get up — and he ended up in the medical tent.
He ultimately was fine, but Nacua’s habit of going all out all the time prompted a question for coach Sean McVay on Monday as to whether he has talked to Nacua about trying to avoid that kind of hard contact with the ground.
“I think we were all worried,” McVay told reporters. “What we’ve talked about is just some of the things that have come up really during practice settings and not beating the ground up so hard sometimes when he falls. I don’t think you want to take away his edge and his competitiveness. You want him to really understand the risk/reward, but I don’t know that he makes that amazing catch if he doesn’t have to come down on the ball like that.
“Fortunately, he’s doing OK. He’s a stud. You do talk about those things, but I think it’s a fine line when you have to make full-speed decisions and so many of those decisions that occur happen so quickly that it’s more instincts than anything else. You don’t want to take away one of his elite traits, you just want to continue to educate him on taking care of his body. Then in some of the practice settings, understanding the give and take of where we can maybe be smart with some decisions that leave you susceptible to those types of collisions or things of that nature.”
Nacua’s fearlessness makes him special. But that fearlessness can get him injured. Like McVay said, there’s a fine line between playing at a ridiculously high level and playing with the kind of reckless abandon that can wreck the body.
Regardless, it’s working for now. The Rams are in striking distance for the division title. To win it, they need Nacua to play like he can. They also need him to be able to play.
The best news is that it appears that his collision with the fake grass on Sunday won’t keep him from playing on Sunday night, against the Eagles.
