Puka Nacua does Sean McVay no favors by taking his beef with NFL refs to another level and he needs to stop
Nacua didn’t do McVay any favors by criticizing NFL refs for the second time in just a few days.
It’s safe to say Puka Nacua has had a rough week and it’s probably going to get rougher after Thursday night’s loss.
It all started when he hopped on a livestream with a guy named Adin Ross, an internet personality, taught Nacua how to perform an antisemitic gesture he then performed during the stream. The Los Angeles Rams’ star wideout then promised he’d use it the next time he scored a touchdown.
Thankfully that never came to fruition, as Nacua was quickly called out. He later issued an apology, but the damage was already done.
The livestream debacle didn’t end there, either. Nacua was later heard dissing NFL refs, which is against league rules and a fineable offense.
“The refs are the worst,” said Nacua. “These guys are lawyers, and like really they want to be on TV, too, bro. You don’t think he’s texting his friends in the group chat like, ‘Yo, you guys just saw me on “Sunday Night Football.” Like, that wasn’t [pass interference], but I called it.’”
Nacua apparently even tried to get Ross and his crew into the Rams’ facility at one point earlier in the week. They were denied entry and Nacua was quoted saying “bossman wasn’t happy about it”, which has a lot of people speculating “bossman” meant Sean McVay.
No matter how you slice it, it’s been a week of bad decisions on Nacua’s part and he took it a step forward after the Rams lost to the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football.
Nacua calls out the refs again after Rams’ loss to Seahawks
Nacua wasted zero time calling out the refs after the Rams’ loss to the Seahawks and he linked it back to his earlier comments on the livestream. He quickly deleted the tweet, but the internet is forever and plenty of people had already grabbed screenshots.
“Can you say I was wrong? Appreciate you stripes for your contribution. Lol” it read.
Overall, the refereeing wasn’t as bad as we’ve seen this year. There was one very questionable call early in the game that took a Rams touchdown off the board and it’s probably what set Nacua off, at the end of the day, though.
Regardless, this is now twice in one week Nacua has criticized NFL refs, so expect the league to levy a fine either in the coming days or next Saturday when it hands out its weekly monetary punishments.
Nacua’s tweet catches Sean McVay off guard
Nacua’s not doing himself any favors with his recent behavior and it’s putting Sean McVay and his teammates in a tough spot. McVay was completely caught off guard during the postgame presser when he was asked about the tweet and one could tell by the tone of his voice that he was pretty peeved.
“I’ve got to have more information before I answer any of those kind of questions… I have not spoken to him yet, so I just found out about that. We’ll continue to learn,” McVay told reporters.
I don’t want to put words into McVay’s mouth, but I’m positive this is the last thing he wants to talk about after the historic loss the Rams had just experienced. McVay quickly shot down the idea that the past week has been a distraction for Nacua and the Rams, but it’s going to turn into one if Nacua keeps poking the bear.
That’s not something a team like the Rams needs from their star player. Los Angeles is a legitimate Super Bowl contender and it can ill afford to have this kind of behavior from one of its best players and top leaders. It sets a bad precedent and vibe that can quickly veer of course if it keeps up.
McVay even had to answer questions pertaining to the whole ordeal with Nacua and his attempt to get the livestreamers into the facility. The Rams head coach shot that down, too, saying he wasn’t aware of the situation and that he wasn’t the “bossman” Nacua referred to.
McVay is encouraged Nacua will right the ship, though, and he’ll be with him every step of the way to ensure he does.
“We always want to make sure we handle ourselves with class, learn from it,” said McVay. “I’ll put my arm around him and continue to educate our guys. I love this team. I love his heart. I think he’s going to continue to grow and mature and I’m going to be there right there with him to continue to help do that.
“As far as the other things. I know that, that wasn’t a distraction. There were some things, you address it and you keep it moving and I think most importantly you never want offend anybody and I know that that’s where his heart is as well.”
This week doesn’t define Nacua, but he has to learn from this
Nacua built himself a bit of a bad rep this week and it’s going to stick with some people for the rest of his career, but in an overall sense, he should be fine as long as he doesn’t trip up again.
The easy solution is to just stay away from social media. There’s way too much toxicity on any of the apps and it’s so easy to fall into the rabbit hole or some kind of troll trap someone set up to intentionally put a player in a bad spot.
That’s much easier said than done these days, however. Either way, it’s up to Nacua to make it right from here on out.
