Puka Nacua’s recent comments regarding NFL officials will be reviewed by the league for a potential fine, according to CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones. Nacua made comments on a livestream prior to the Los Angeles Rams’ overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night.
During the livestream, the Rams’ receiver said that officials make calls so that they can “be on TV, too.”
“The refs are the worst,” Nacua said. “You don’t think (a ref) is texting his friends in the group chat, like, ‘Yo, you guys just saw me on ‘Sunday Night Football’? That wasn’t PI, but I called it.’ … These guys are human beings, too.”
Nacua slammed officials again following Thursday night’s loss in a since-deleted social media post. Late in the game, the Rams appeared to stop the Seahawks’ game-tying, two-point attempt before officials decided to reverse the initial call on the field after they determined that Sam Darnold’s pass was thrown behind the line of scrimmage, which made it a live ball instead of an incompletion.
“I’ve never quite seen anything like what happened on the two-point conversion, where you’re lined up to kickoff, then they say it’s a fumble because you have a clear and obvious recovery,” Rams coach Sean McVay said afterward. “Now, you tack it on, make it a 30-30 game. Very interesting. Didn’t get clear explanation of everything that went on just because of the timing of it.
“Never been a part of anything like that, and I’ve grown up around this game. I’m not making excuses … but we do want a clarity and an understanding of the things that we can do minimize that when we rejected the two-point conversion.”
Afterward, Nacua said that he had “a moment of frustration” when he criticized the officials.
“After a tough and intense game like that, just thinking about the opportunities that I could have done better to take it out of [the officials’] hands,” he said.
While he caught 12 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns against Seattle, all of the questions regarding Nacua following Thursday’s night’s game were about his actions during the livestream. Along with criticizing the officials, Nacua issued an apology prior to Thursday night’s game after doing a dance on the livestream that has been characterized as antisemitic.
“I know I’ll learn from it,” he said. “I don’t want to be a distraction in any week, especially in a short week.”
McVay, who was uncharacteristically emotional following a game where his team relinquished a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter, said that he will continue to help and support his young receiver.
“I know this guy’s heart,” McVay said. “For anybody that was offended, terribly sorry about that. I know he feels that exact same way. He’s a young guy, a great kid that’s continuing to learn about the platform that he has. I love him. We’re going to continue to put our arm around him and help him learn and grow, but we never want to do things that ever offend anybody, and I know he feels that same way.”
Regarding a potential fine, the NFL has a history of docking players’ paychecks for criticizing officials. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, for example, received a $50,000 fine after criticizing officials during a late-season loss to the Buffalo Bills.
