INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua wasn't going to let a gushing head wound keep him off the field during the season opener.

On L.A.'s second offensive drive, Nacua converted a 3rd-and-7 over the middle of the field, but was dealt a helmet-to-helmet blow by Texans inside linebacker Henry To'oTo'o, who was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the play. It opened a gash above Nacua's eye, and blood dripped down the right side of his face. He remembered fellow wide receiver Davante Adams trying to talk to him, but all he could say was "there's blood and I don't know where it's coming from. Please help me," Nacua said postgame.

"I felt like my face was on my face mask and I was standing up and it was just all the way down here to the left. But just got some quick stitches and then got back out there."

When he came to the locker room to be evaluated for a concussion, Nacua joked that he made sure he could count to 10 with his fingers as he lay freezing on the training room table, the air conditioning blasting. All he wanted to do was warm up in the Los Angeles sun and "hit someone all over again." Once his head wound was patched up and Nacua was cleared to return, that's exactly what he did.

Exiting the game twice due to injury did nothing to dampen the third-year receiver's production. Nacua caught 10 of his 11 targets for 130 yards, all game-highs, helping the Rams to a 14-9 victory over Houston, and he did it with a bandage drooping down over his right eye for three quarters.

"It's going to be another one of those stories in probably a really long, successful career of 'Remember the time, opening day, I had to do this, that, and the other to get back out there and make some big plays (and) seal the game at the end," said quarterback Matthew Stafford.

From the first play of the game to the last, Nacua was the focal point of the offense. He got the game rolling with a quick out and sealed the victory on a play-action rollout where he ran for the first down and tip-toed the sideline to stay in bounds and keep the clock rolling.

In between, he fearlessly hauled in numerous passes over the middle of the field with no regard for personal safety. Even after his head had been cut open by a 228-pound linebacker, Nacua kept coming back for more.

"There was some padding covering that was covering the eye a little bit, but then it was like, 'Man, I'm going out here. Hopefully these stitches are doing their job because I'm not hesitating to hit somebody else,'" he said.

One play after Nacua returned to the game, he caught a dig route over the middle of the field for 19. He followed that up with a 24-yard gain into the red zone on a seam route a few snaps later. Both catches were punctuated by punishment on the backend, but he kept on churning his legs rather than give himself up. That's just the type of physicality he brings to every snap, bandaged and bruised or not.

"Puka comes back, he gets stitched up, and he immediately makes his presence felt," said head coach Sean McVay. "Catches a couple seams, catches a big in-cut off of a play action, just makes play after play. When the ball's in his hands, good things happen."

In the fourth quarter, he caught a six-yard pass from Stafford. It was a play drawn up for him and didn't seem like anything special out of context. So when Stafford came up to him and said "I'm glad that ball went to you," Nacua was confused. "I'm pretty sure the play was supposed to come to me," he thought.

But then he took a look at the video board, where a graphic displaying Stafford with the words "60,000 career passing yards" filled him in on the significance of what had just happened.

"I'm like, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, brother. I totally missed that,'" Nacua said.

He followed that up with another catch-and-run down the seam for 25 yards, setting L.A. up near the red zone. That's when tight end Colby Parkinson coughed the ball up and gave Houston a chance to take the lead. When L.A. got the ball back and had a chance to seal the game, of course Stafford and McVay were going to trust Nacua to make the play.

After laying his body on the line for four-straight quarters, it was only right.

"As much (fun) as it is to smile in the defender's face when you get back up and you catch that ball, it is also to my big brothers," Nacua said. "To be like, man, all those times (they beat up on me), they paid off. The bounce-up game came from them for sure."