After Jackson Smith-Njigba’s performance tonight against the San Francisco 49ers, Rams’ receiver Puka Nacua has to be doing the math. Nacua is the definition of Team player, of course and will be working with his teammates to achieve a victory against the Arizona Cardinals, and help secure the #5 seed in the NFC playoffs. A victory tomorrow would bring the Rams to 12-5, tied with the 49ers, but the Rams, of course, would finish ahead in the tie-breaking formula.
But on a personal level, Nacua has had An amazing season. Many pundits and football experts believe Nacua is worthy of Offensive Player of the year. With Just 155 yards Sunday, Puka will surpass Smith-Njigba for the NFL receiving yards title. (Edit: And he will have achieved the feat playing ONE LESS GAME)
The question, with Playoffs looming, is: will Coach Sean McVay allow Nacua to play enough to achieve the goal?
Secondly, a very interesting dynamic is shaping up regarding another NFL Wide Receiving title at stake for the 2025 season: Most receptions. Currently Nacua is tied with Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride with 119 receptions. The only other player close is Cincinnati Bengal receiver Jamar Chase. As Chase and the Bengals will be playing their game against the Browns in the early window, Both McBride and Nacua will know how many catches they will need to surpass Chase. (Assuming he has at least 3 catches Sunday)
They true drama will be, how many catches from drive-to-drive will they need to keep up with each other! Though for the Cardinals at 3-13, McBrides pursuit may be one of the team’s few inspirations in an otherwise lost season. Another underlying goal for the Cardinals may be to play the part of spoiler, affecting the playoff seedings in the NFC.
Lastly, in looking at the third leg to the NFL Receivers Triple Crown this is the most interesting thing that occurred to me: Imagine as we all celebrated mid-season, when our quarterback Matthew Stafford was lighting the World on fire delivering all those red-zone touchdowns to Devonte Adam’s, if he had looked Nacua’s way JUST TWICE.
Adam’s would be sitting idle with a still-respectable 12 touchdowns, Puka Nacua would have 11 touchdowns with one game to go. (And the accompanying 2 catches, and let’s say 20 yards for the sake of arguement.)
Never mind a couple of touchdowns that were called back, such as the one Monday Night against Atlanta, and someone will have to remind me- there was at least another one a few weeks ago.
The Triple Crown chatter going into this final preseason game would be a Huge story line. And might I add one that would ADD to the goal of winning the final game not distract from it. My opinion. And probably add to the case for Matthew Stafford MVP, as well.
Just some rantings from this lunatic. I’d be curious to hear what you all think about the Triple Crown that will never be, in this incredible year from Puka Nacua. I think he could easily win two of the three legs, though.
Heck just win that Lombardi, and all will be good with me.
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