LOS ANGELES — Receiver Puka Nacua is set to make a return to the Los Angeles Rams' lineup for their game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. This comes after he missed one game due to an ankle injury. The wideout took advantage of a bye week to recover following the injury, which occurred during the Rams' win over the Baltimore Ravens on October 12. He was absent from the team's blowout victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on October 19.
Nacua has been back in full practice with the Rams (5-2) and is confident about playing when they host the Saints (1-7) in their first home game in a month.
“There’s never a good time to be injured, but the bye did land at a great time to be able to rest and recover for this back half,” Nacua said. “I’m feeling fantastic. I feel ready to go.”
Before his injury, Nacua was leading the NFL in receptions and yards receiving. He rolled his ankle after going up for a contested catch against the Ravens. Although he returned to the game, he later realized the injury was more severe than initially thought.
Despite missing parts of two games, Nacua remains third in the league with 54 receptions and fourth with 616 yards receiving. His absence prompted quarterback Matthew Stafford to diversify his passing game in London, where 10 different Rams players caught a pass, including four tight ends.
“We’ve talked a lot about Puka and Davante getting — rightfully so — a lot of targets, but there are also places and opportunities for some of those (other) guys that can make plays,” coach Sean McVay said. “Our tight ends, it was great to get them involved. These are ... champagne problems for us as coaches.”
Davante Adams remained Stafford's favorite target and had a strong performance, catching three touchdown passes at Wembley. Adams currently leads the league with six touchdown receptions, surpassing Detroit's Amon-Ra St. Brown and Philadelphia's Dallas Goedert.
Adams still sees room for improvement in the Rams' third-ranked passing game and in his connection with Stafford.
“I think that we haven’t been able to truly maximize it just because of missing time with Matthew in camp and still trying to get on the same page,” Adams said. “Me dealing with the hamstring, I wasn’t necessarily practicing every day before. ... Overall, I don’t think anybody’s disappointed. Me being who I am and Matthew being who he is and just having the team that we do, my expectations are really high, and standards are really high for what I should bring and what this team should be able to do. I’m definitely not satisfied with what we’ve done, but happy with where we are.”
Nacua was impressed by Adams' performance in London, especially since Adams has been one of his idols. However, he also noted the downside of not being able to celebrate with Adams after touchdowns.
“It was a little painful, because we've been working on some handshakes, and I'm like, ‘Oh, I can’t run out there and meet you in the end zone (to celebrate), as I would normally expect to,'" Nacua said. “But it was just super-exciting, because we see the stuff in practice, some of the catches he makes, and it's great to see it finally come to fruition on Sundays.”
The Rams will face the Saints without receiver Tutu Atwell, who was placed on injured reserve due to a hamstring issue. Atwell has only made four catches this season but is known for his speed and ability to stretch the field.
Stafford isn't worried about replacing Atwell's threat.
“Yes, he runs faster than I do, but he’s got a whole lot of other skills too that are valuable to our team,” Stafford said with a laugh. "Obviously you miss a guy like him with his ability to do some of the things that he’s able to do, but we’ll find ways to be effective and explosive.”