Over the past two years, there haven’t been many quarterback-wide receiver duos better than Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua of the Los Angeles Rams. Last season, the duo connected on 98 passes for 1413 yards and five touchdowns. While Nacua has missed some time with injury this season, the duo picked right up where they left off and have been dangerous. That was evident in last week’s win against the Buffalo Bills when Nacua had 12 catches on 14 targets for 162 yards and a touchdown.
Since Nacua returned to action in Week 8, the Rams wide receiver has been the third-most targeted wide receiver in the NFL and leads the NFL in targets per route run. Nacua also ranks fourth in the NFL in receptions. Stafford has been the quarterback during that entire stretch. From a quarterback standpoint, since Nacua returned to action in Week 8, Stafford is fourth in yards, tied for second in the NFL in touchdown passes, and ranks fifth in EPA per play.
When Stafford and Nacua are on the field together, they benefit each other and the Rams offense simply performs better. From Weeks 2-7, the Rams offense ranked 24th in EPA while Stafford was 25th. Again, since then, the Rams rank seventh in offensive EPA and Stafford is fifth. They are one of the most dangerous threats from an offensive standpoint in the NFL.
Earlier this week, ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky ranked the top quarterback and wide receiver duos in the NFL this season. Coming in at number 13 was Stafford and Nacua. Said Orlovsky,
“Nacua — who missed time because of a knee injury early this season — gets open, and Stafford gives him a shot to make a play. It’s really about timing. These two have such strong chemistry and trust; Stafford is going to put the ball where it needs to be and when it needs to be there, and Nacua has the hands to move the chains.”
This isn’t to say that Stafford and Nacua should be considered the top quarterback-receiver duo in the NFL. However, 13th seems extremely low. In other words, Orlovsky ranked 12 other quarterback wide receiver duos ahead of Stafford and Nacua. Those duos are:
Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase
Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown
Sam Darnold and Justin Jefferson
Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown
Lamar Jackson and Zay Flowers
CJ Stroud and Nico Collins
Russell Wilson and George Pickens
Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill
Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin
Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans
Patrick Mahomes and DeAndre Hopkins
Justin Herbert and Ladd McConkey
For Matthew Stafford to not just get this off, but deliver a straight up DIME w/pressure to Puka Nacua is one thing...
...but for Nacua to then make this catch along the sideline? Just call him Super Puka.
This was was 3rd most improbable completion of the week at 21.3%. pic.twitter.com/1jY24BHyeb
— Blaine Grisak (@bgrisakTST) December 10, 2024
Burrow and Chase are obvious and the same goes for Hurts and Brown. Cases can certainly be made for Goff and St. Brown as well as Stroud and Collins. However, Nacua and Stafford should not be below Wilson and Pickens let alone six spots below them. Mahomes and Hopkins only just started playing together. Hopkins has 157 receiving yards over the last three games. Nacua had 162 yards in his last game alone.
Stafford consistently proves that he is one of the most talented quarterbacks in the NFL and can sling it with the best of them. An argument against Cooper Kupp was that he wasn’t the flashiest wide receiver. However, Nacua seems to make a flashy play on almost a weekly basis.
Somehow, Nacua remains one of the most underrated playmakers in the NFL. His EPA per route of 0.22 is higher than every other player on Orlovsky’s list. The next closest is McLaurin at 0.19.
Nacua just played his 25th career game on Sunday against the Bills. In a player’s first 25 games, he has:
2nd-most receptions (159). Only Odell Beckham Jr. has more (176).
4th-most yards (2,194). Only Justin Jefferson, Beckham Jr. Charlie Hennigan, and Bill Groman have more.
2nd-most 100-yard games (11). Only Beckham Jr. (15) has more.
Nacua is the fifth player ever with 10+ rec. and 100+ yds in three or more games.
From a stats perspective, Nacua is right up there with the elite young wide receivers to ever play the game such as Jefferson and Beckham. However, he isn’t talked about as someone in that conversation.
The Rams are heading down the final stretch of games and they’ll need to perform well if this team is going to make the playoffs. With both on the field, the Rams are 5-2 and just got their biggest win of the season against the Bills. Nacua has consistently shown that he is a big game player and it doesn’t get much bigger than a Week 15 matchup in primetime against the San Francisco 49ers.