{"id":129050,"date":"2026-01-11T10:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T10:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/129050\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T10:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T10:05:15","slug":"puka-nacuas-pick-denying-breakup-saved-rams-in-win-over-panthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/129050\/","title":{"rendered":"Puka Nacua’s pick-denying breakup saved Rams in win over Panthers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CHARLOTTE, N.C.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0At Bank of America Stadium on Saturday, Puka Nacua<\/a> was pure money.<\/p>\n

Not only did he score back-to-back touchdowns in the first half, but the All-Pro Rams receiver<\/a> saved the game in the fourth quarter by denying Carolina an interception.<\/p>\n

Puka became PBU-ka.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s shorthand for Pass Breakup, and Nacua executed that beautifully on a soft, high pass from Matthew Stafford that sailed over Nacua\u2019s head and into the hands of leaping Panthers safety Nick Scott, who was falling back into the end zone.<\/p>\n

Nacua suddenly became a defender and jarred the ball loose before Scott could secure it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought [Nacua] was going to go up there and kind of post up, and I was like, \u2018OK, let\u2019s see what you got,\u2019\u201d Stafford said. \u201cI threw it and as soon as I cut it loose, he kind of turned away and it was just tough timing. But what a play to go fight through it and get that thing knocked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a moment that should be memorialized on Nacua\u2019s robust career highlight reel, and helped him atone for a rare dropped would-be touchdown at the end of the first half.<\/p>\n

Nacua should be the NFL\u2019s offensive player of the year, and the Rams aren\u2019t going to make a playoff run unless he turns in big game after big game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a freaking warrior,\u201d coach Sean McVay said.<\/p>\n

The Rams found out something about themselves in the 34-31 victory<\/a>, a near-disaster for a team favored by 10\u00bd points. They finally found a way to win a game when dangled over a cliff. Each of their losses this season was by a touchdown or less, and each time they failed to come through down the stretch \u2014 Philadelphia, San Francisco, Carolina, Seattle and Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Finally, they answered the call.<\/p>\n

\"Rams <\/p>\n

Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua carries the ball in the first quarter against the Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Nacua was an essential component to that, reeling in a game-high 10 passes for 111 yards. On a play in the fourth quarter, he made a catch in the middle of three converging defenders \u2014 Stafford fit the football through a mail slot \u2014 and the trio of Panthers crashed into one another Keystone Kops-style. That play knocked star cornerback Jaycee Horn out of the game.<\/p>\n

But it was that pass breakup that will live in the memory of Nacua\u2019s defensive teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got to get his skeletal structure because I think he\u2019s, like, big boned,\u201d Rams safety Quentin Lake<\/a> said. \u201cHe\u2019s a big dude. But at the same time, he\u2019s just amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A big LeBron James<\/a> fan, Nacua watches highlights of the Lakers\u2019 star before he takes the football field. Before Saturday\u2019s game, he and Lake had a \u201cKing James\u201d debate.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Share via Close extra sharing options <\/p>\n

Gary Klein breaks down what went right for the Rams in their 34-31 wild-card playoff victory over the Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, `What do you think his best year was?\u2019\u201d Lake said. \u201cI said 2018, and he said it was 2012, that Miami year [when James] was most valuable player of the NBA and Finals, and led Team USA to an Olympic gold medal.] He said he was going to be that tonight, and that\u2019s what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Happy as he was about the win, Nacua was still reliving what might have been at the end of the first half, when he had beat his defender and a spot-on pass from Stafford sailed through his hands. That could have been a touchdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are opportunities, man, you can\u2019t miss out on,\u201d Nacua said. \u201cA chance to score before half and then double up because we know we\u2019re getting the ball [at the start of the third quarter.] That\u2019s what coach talks about. You never want to let No. 9 down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford, who wears No. 9, came through down the stretch after a cold spell when he had seven consecutive incomplete passes \u2014 his longest such streak with the Rams \u2014 and had surgical precision with his winning, 19-yard touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson. All that, and the quarterback was dealing with an injured finger on his throwing hand.<\/p>\n

As for Nacua\u2019s hands, he babies them. He typically gets a manicure before games, and wears clear polish on his nails. Those hands are his money-makers. He didn\u2019t see the beautician in the week leading up to this game, however, because his mom was in town and therefore he didn\u2019t have the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be back in there this week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On a day where Rams fans everywhere were chewing off their own nails, Nacua\u2019s hands held up just fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0At Bank of America Stadium on Saturday, Puka Nacua was pure money. Not only did he score…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[66472,66473,22149,782,11153,16945,423,24710,48,52,51,47,50,49,771,43965,3238,10948,11706,315,1543],"class_list":["post-129050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-back-to-back-touchdown","tag-carolina","tag-defender","tag-end-zone","tag-first-half","tag-fourth-quarter","tag-game","tag-hand","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-panthers","tag-play","tag-puka-nacua","tag-ram","tag-time","tag-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}