Rams WR Puka Nacua on his breakout year & playing with Matthew Stafford
Yahoo Sports' Matt Harmon is joined by the Los Angeles Rams rookie wide receiver on Radio Row at Super Bowl LVIII to discuss the moment he knew he was off to a good season, facing the 49ers defense and when he realized Matthew Stafford was really old. Puka joined Yahoo Sports on behalf of the Pepsi Rookie of the Year award.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MATT HARMON: Excited to be joined now by Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua. You're here on behalf of Pepsi Zero Sugar NFL Rookie of the Year. Puka, what's going on, man?
PUKA NACUA: Not much, enjoying my week out here in Vegas.
MATT HARMON: It's a good time to be here. Hey, we're going to play a little game called what's in the card. So the way this works, I'm going to pull a card. You're going to guess higher or lower.
If you get it right, you get an easy question. If you get it wrong, you get a hard question. Sound good?
PUKA NACUA: I like that. I like that.
MATT HARMON: Higher or lower than the Jack?
PUKA NACUA: Lower for sure. Watch this pull another ten.
MATT HARMON: Much lower.
PUKA NACUA: Let's go.
MATT HARMON: Three. I mean, that's an easy question. All right, when was the first time this season that you knew, all right, I'm about to have a huge year.
PUKA NACUA: My first touchdown, actually. It's funny that me and Coop talked about, because he's like, man, how are you, how are we in week four you're catching all these passes and you still don't have a touchdown yet? So for my first touchdown to come in an overtime game winner, that was something. Like my confidence was already high, and we were starting to-- we were able to win the game as well. So that was something that like kind of boosted my confidence to another arena for sure.
MATT HARMON: So it took until week four really for you to feel like I'm about to really take off, because you had big games before that.
PUKA NACUA: Yeah, yeah, because week one was super-fun. I think of some of those catches, but like the first touchdown for it to be a game-winner was like, all right, that's the way you want the first one to be.
MATT HARMON: I mean, hey, yeah, that's a good way to get it started. All right, a lot of way to go here. Higher or lower than three?
PUKA NACUA: I'm going to go lower. We're going to pull an Ace.
MATT HARMON: You're going to go lower?
PUKA NACUA: We're going to pull an Ace.
MATT HARMON: This guy is risky here. All right.
PUKA NACUA: Oh.
MATT HARMON: Eight, I mean, bro, that was risky, not even close. OK, hard question here. 49ers defense in the Super Bowl, you play these guys twice a year. What's the most difficult part of going against this defense?
PUKA NACUA: I think that front four, their ability to play just with four down D-linemen makes them a huge threat. And then with number 54 behind them, like that front four allows them to do a lot of things on defense, for sure. Yeah, very scary.
MATT HARMON: Yeah, I believe it, especially for a guy like you who goes over the middle seeing Fred Warner there. Like that's not a good sight.
PUKA NACUA: That's a difficult proposition, yeah.
MATT HARMON: Higher or lower than the Jack?
PUKA NACUA: Lower.
MATT HARMON: Got to be lower, definitely lower. OK.
PUKA NACUA: Do we see another ten? I was like no.
MATT HARMON: No, no, no, all right. What's the moment you thought this year, man, Matthew Stafford is like really old?
PUKA NACUA: [LAUGHS] Sadly, it was in the Indianapolis game. The reason he got hurt was my fault. I missed a block in that game. But I actually remember after, like seeing all like the post-game clips after the touchdown, where he's like this.
And then like he starts to like kind of jog, and then he's like, oh, and then like he's just like got the limp now. I'm like, oh, man, I know he was injured. But also I think that's just like the most old person thing you could do. Celebrate, and then like my movement to celebrate like makes me feel older, and I was dying.
MATT HARMON: All right, man, you're here on behalf of Pepsi Zero Sugar NFL Rookie of the Year. Tell me a little bit about what you got going on there.
PUKA NACUA: Yeah, I love working with Pepsi. I was able to win all those rookie belts so I have them all lined up on my house. My girlfriend maybe not like the decorations that I've set up with all the Pepsi stuff, but it's the best. And I let CJ know that we're competing again for that same award. He likes to play a little bit of basketball so we might play one-on-one for that award. But I'm pretty sure the fans will vote for your boy, Puka Nacua, and get it done.
MATT HARMON: Amazing, man, well, hey, good luck to you. Congratulations on a big season Thanks for hanging out.
PUKA NACUA: Thanks, Matt.