Puka Nacua was already stitched up and bleeding from his right cheek when Matthew Stafford found him for another third-down conversion. The Los Angeles Rams wideout caught 10 of 11 targets for 130 yards in a 14–9 opening win over the Texans, but the real story wasn’t just his toughness. It was how Sean McVay schemed him free against one of the NFL’s stingiest defenses — and how it looked like, in the words of analyst Matt Harmon, “classic McVay BS.”
Rams HC Puts Texans Second Level In A Blender With 12 Personnel
Get your Puka-Flex T-Shirt Here
On the Football 301 podcast, Harmon and Nate Tice broke down how Los Angeles leaned into heavy 12 personnel, forcing Houston to match with three linebackers instead of its usual five-defensive-back nickel looks. “They use tight ends almost half their snaps and they’re very good at using two tight end looks,” Tice said. “The Texans love living in nickel and 5 DBs. The Rams were going with 12 [personnel] for a minute. They changed as the game went along and the Rams went, ‘Okay, we’re gonna motion outside, put Puka Nacua in the slot and get him against a linebacker in space.’ Yeah, just taking advantage of what the defense is giving you.”
The strategy didn’t mean the tight ends were suddenly starring. Quite the opposite. Matt Harmon noted on the same episode that McVay often deploys his tight ends as “sacrificial flat receivers” — bodies to hold down coverage and control the underneath zones so the real weapons can attack the middle. “It’s the ultimate McVay obsession,” Harmon said. “He gets more tight ends on the field, but half those guys are never getting the football. They’re just there to open up the in-breakers for what was Cooper Kupp, and now is Puka Nacua. Again, classic McVay BS — but I do love it.”
It worked. With All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. shadowing Davante Adams outside, McVay’s motion-heavy, tight–end–heavy looks funneled targets to Nacua inside. The second he returned from his stitches, Nacua ripped off two big catches to wake up an offense that had been averaging just 2.5 yards per play. Later, in the closing minutes, he motioned pre-snap to beat Texans safety Jalen Pitre for the 24-yard dagger that sealed the win.
Stafford, who also crossed the 60,000-yard career milestone on a completion to Nacua, was effusive afterward. “When it becomes tackle football is when Puka Nacua’s game comes to life,” he said. “Today’s going to be another one of those stories in a long and successful career.”
McVay, for his part, praised his receiver’s resilience but also pointed toward the bigger picture. “What I do love about this group is they’re resilient,” he said. “They just keep responding.” That response was rooted in a return to McVay’s old identity — 12 personnel, play-action, and slot isolation.
The Texans may have built their defense around speed and nickel versatility, but on Sunday they got dragged into a trench fight and picked apart by “classic McVay BS.” The stitched-up receiver who once studied at Cooper Kupp’s side now owns that role outright — blood, bruises, and all.
Subscribe to LAFB Network’s Los Angeles Rams YouTube Channel