The Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua found himself in hot water after what he called a “natural reaction” to being shoved by Seattle Seahawks linebacker Tyrel Dodson. That natural reaction came in the form of a punch that resulted in Nacua being called for an unnecessary roughness penalty, ejected from the game, and a $5,424 fine.
Nacua defended his action, saying “I come from a tough background and I’m never going to feel like somebody’s trying to enforce their will. Outside the whistle, I’m going to make sure I stand on my ground.”
He also feels like other Rams players are kindred spirits in these matters; particularly four members of the defense.
Rams Defenders Who Are Always Ready To Pack A Punch
“I think being able to be, especially around guys on our team, the young guys around [Byron Young], [Jared] Verse, Elias [Neal], and Omar Speights, everybody’s always ready to pack a punch. It’s nice to get back in there and be like everybody’s willing to hit.”
Nacua seems to imply that these four, defensive linemen Jared Verse and Byron Young and linebackers Elias Neal and Omar Speights are cut from the same cloth — the ones most ready to “pack a punch” and “willing to hit.”
A marked difference between them and Nacua is that they have never been called for unnecessary roughness or unsportsmanlike conduct, much less faced an ejection.
Verse and Young have emerged as two of the league’s better young pass rushers. Verse is the front-runner to win the Defensive Rookie of the Year. His 39 pressures lead all rookies and is ninth in the league. Youngs has 25 pressures and each has five sacks per Pro Football Focus
Speights has become a starter due to an injury to Troy Reeder. He has played just 27 defensive snaps over three games, but has made seven combined tackles.
Neal is an undrafted rookie who has yet to play for the Rams
Of course, Nacua set the league on fire rewriting the rookie receiving record book in 2023. He has played in only one full game this season, mostly due to injury but also because of the ejection last week.
