The rain didn’t just fall on Lumen Field on Thursday night in Seattle.
For Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, the storm clouds had been following him all week.
So when he stood on the field after the Rams 38-37 overtime loss to the Seahawks, that cost them the NFC West division and No. 1 seed in the conference, he once again found himself in the eye of the storm.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, Nacua was brilliant. Twelve catches. Two hundred twenty-five yards. Two touchdowns. It was the kind of stat line that usually will quiet everything else around you. But this week, numbers weren’t enough to drown out the noise swirling around the star wide receiver.
For the first time since a controversial livestream, public backlash, and league-wide scrutiny collided with his personal life, Nacua finally spoke — not as a viral clip, not as a trending topic, but as a player trying to steady himself inside the storm.
“Coach has just echoed that he’s always in continuous support of me,” Nacua said late Thursday night. “He’s disappointed in some of the actions that are just distracting my teammates. And it’s something I know I’ll learn from.”
What he learned, was not to go on live streams with internet personalities Adin Ross and Mikyle Rafiq, known as N3on who have a combined total online following of over 40 million people just days before the most important game of your team’s season.
But that was just the beginning of it.
During the broadcast, Ross suggested a touchdown celebration rooted in an antisemitic stereotype — rubbing one’s hands together to imply greed. Nacua performed the gesture on the stream and even promised to repeat it if he scored in the game on Thursday.
“I promise,” he said. “I got you, man.”
By the next day, the moment had escaped the screen and landed hard in the real world.
Nacua issued a public apology on Instagram, saying he was unaware of the gesture’s meaning and condemning all forms of racism and hate. The NFL followed with a firm statement, reiterating that discrimination has no place in the sport. Backlash poured in, including pointed criticism from U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell, who called for accountability.
As if that weren’t enough, another headline surfaced: Nacua’s brother, Samson, was arrested in Southern California in connection with the reported theft of Lakers rookie Adou Thiero’s SUV. Different situation. Different person. Same last name. Same week.
It all bled together.
Inside the Rams’ facility, the message from head coach Sean McVay was direct but supportive. Accountability without abandonment.
“I don’t want to be a distraction in any week, and especially in a short week,” Nacua said. “So we had talked about that. He’s right there behind me.”
Against Seattle, Nacua played like someone trying to let football speak. Slants turned into sprints. Contested catches felt inevitable. He torched a division rival with the confidence of a receiver who knows the ball will find him — and that he’ll do something with it when it does.
Yet when the game slipped away in overtime, frustration cracked through again.
Nacua had criticized NFL officials earlier in the week during the same livestream, questioning their motives and attention. After Thursday’s loss, he briefly took to social media once more, thanking referees sarcastically for their “contribution.” The post vanished quickly.
Puka Nacua, who criticized the refs to a live stream earlier this week, tweeted and then quickly deleted this after tonight’s OT loss to the Seahawks. pic.twitter.com/gDU2m5fxkW
— Michael J. Duarte (@michaeljduarte) December 19, 2025
“Just a moment of frustration after a tough, intense game like that,” he said. “Thinking of the opportunities that I could’ve done better to take it out of their hands.”
Asked whether he truly believed what he’d said about officials chasing TV moments, Nacua shook it off.
“No, I don’t,” he said. “It was just a lack of awareness and some frustration.”
Lost beneath the controversy is the truth of what Puka Nacua has become.
A fifth-round pick out of BYU in 2023, now in his third NFL season, Nacua leads the Rams with 114 receptions and 1,592 receiving yards through Week 15. He ranks second in the NFL in both categories. His six touchdown catches trail only Davante Adams on the roster. At 24 years old, he’s already a pillar of the franchise’s present — and its future.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that making Nacua one of the league’s highest-paid wide receivers is a “big-time priority” for the Rams, with an extension looming after the 2025 season.
That future remains intact. But weeks like this leave fingerprints.
Nacua didn’t dodge responsibility Thursday night. He didn’t hide behind platitudes. He acknowledged the damage of distraction — to his teammates, to the locker room, to himself.
“I know I’ll learn from this,” he said.
In Seattle, under gray skies and heavier circumstances, Puka Nacua reminded everyone of two truths that can coexist: greatness does not make you immune to mistakes, and mistakes do not erase greatness.
Nacua is a young star learning that gravity comes with greatness, that every action echoes louder when your name sits near the top of the league’s leaderboards and this week, he had to learn the hard way.
Related Stories:
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
