INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua wasn’t going to let a gushing head wound keep him off the field during the season opener.
On L.A.’s second offensive drive, Nacua converted a 3rd-and-7 over the middle of the field, but was dealt a helmet-to-helmet blow by Texans inside linebacker Henry To’oTo’o, who was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the play. It opened a gash above Nacua’s eye, and blood dripped down the right side of his face. He remembered fellow wide receiver Davante Adams trying to talk to him, but all he could say was “there’s blood and I don’t know where it’s coming from. Please help me,” Nacua said postgame.
“I felt like my face was on my face mask and I was standing up and it was just all the way down here to the left. But just got some quick stitches and then got back out there.”
When he came to the locker room to be evaluated for a concussion, Nacua joked that he made sure he could count to 10 with his fingers as he lay freezing on the training room table, the air conditioning blasting. All he wanted to do was warm up in the Los Angeles sun and “hit someone all over again.” Once his head wound was patched up and Nacua was cleared to return, that’s exactly what he did.
Exiting the game twice due to injury did nothing to dampen the third-year receiver’s production. Nacua caught 10 of his 11 targets for 130 yards, all game-highs, helping the Rams to a 14-9 victory over Houston, and he did it with a bandage drooping down over his right eye for three quarters.
“It’s going to be another one of those stories in probably a really long, successful career of ‘Remember the time, opening day, I had to do this, that, and the other to get back out there and make some big plays (and) seal the game at the end,” said quarterback Matthew Stafford.
From the first play of the game to the last, Nacua was the focal point of the offense. He got the game rolling with a quick out and sealed the victory on a play-action rollout where he ran for the first down and tip-toed the sideline to stay in bounds and keep the clock rolling.