WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – Week 1 offered modest returns on the highly-touted tandem of wide receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams in their first game on the field together as Rams teammates. While Nacua had 10 catches for 130 yards, Adams had four for 51 – though Adams impacted the game in ways beyond his explosive catches, as Texans cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. traveled with him all game and he drew a key penalty on the go-ahead touchdown scoring drive.
Week 2 offered the best display of what Los Angeles hoped that combination could achieve, in accounting for 242 total yards and 22 of quarterback Matthew Stafford's 32 targets in a 33-19 road win over the Titans.
"I think they're two great players," head coach Sean McVay said Monday. "I think with their skillsets…there's a different way that they both figure out a way to separate, work edges. Ultimately as receivers, they get open, they catch the ball, and they can create after the catch. That's a big deal for us. I think some of the different complimentary skill sets, different tools that they have, but they're both great players. We can use them. I think it's no different than two great runners where their skill sets compliment one another. I would imagine that's what Matthew meant by that."
Adams still having the ability to separate at an elite level continued to command the attention of the opponent's top cornerback, as L'Jarius Sneed traveled with him for the majority of last Sunday's game, just like Stingley. Adams said postgame that he didn't notice more attention being paid to Nacua after his big season-opening performance.
"It was pretty spread open," Adams said. "It wasn't like I was getting doubled all game. There was a few plays where they did that, but I think they wanted to kind of slow us down with the shell a little bit more than doubling or anything crazy like that. So there's opportunities all out there."
Adams finished with six catches for 106 yards and his first touchdown as a Ram in the Week 2 victory; Nacua wasn't far behind him with eight catches for 91 yards plus a 45-yard touchdown run.
Because of the attention Adams draws, it has allowed L.A. to move around Nacua more, or rather use him out of the slot more frequently. Nacua lined up in the slot on a career-high 63.6% of his routes in Week 1, according to Next Gen Stats. Nacua was sent in motion on 44.4% of his snaps in Week 1 and caught all four of his post-motion targets for 39 yards. In Week 2, Nacua was sent in motion on 22.5% of his snaps and caught his lone post-motion target for 13 yards.
"Number nine can make any throw on the field, but I'm sure it's nice when you get somebody as experienced as he is to understand it, get that much more information you can from the defense to be able to dissect it," Nacua said. "I think it's fun. There aren't too many times where I remember (that) you just kind of wait for the defense to break their huddle after we've broken ours, to kind of see where our guys are going. So that's an exciting feeling, knowing that, all right, every play, and especially on third down, that they're finding their matchups and you know what you're working against. So it's been super fun because coach McVay, Matthew and the masterminds that we have on the offensive side of the ball, they do their best to give us the opportunities to succeed."
The Rams' receiving corps being led by Nacua and Adams is not the only position group that will look different on the field in Sunday's 2024 divisional round rematch with the Eagles. Philadelphia's secondary lost veteran safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson (traded to Texans this offseason), safety Avonte Maddox (signed with Lions) and cornerback Isaiah Rodgers (signed with Vikings). Additionally, veteran cornerbacks Darius Slay and James Bradberry was released this spring. Of the Eagles' starting defensive backs from January's playoff game, only cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, defensive back Cooper DeJean and safety Reed Blankenship remain, but they're pacing a unit that has allowed the eighth-fewest passing yards per game entering Week 3.
"It's nice being me," Stafford said Wednesday. "It's nice being me and lining up and knowing that we got two guys that really got more than two, but those two guys have done a heck of a job in the last couple of years, obviously, a little bit, you know, a few more years than done a great job, last couple years, making big plays. And that's what's showing up to me. These guys are when they're getting their opportunity. Getting their opportunities to make plays."
