Rams and Vikings play tonight, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing plenty of Puka Nacua. He’s the focal point of LA’s passing game, Sean McVay draws things up a little differently than other coaches.
Nacua didn’t play in Week 18, but in his previous 10 games he accounted for over 40 percent of the Rams’ receiving yards. McVay doesn’t care much about double teams; he’ll be scheming things up to get his top guy open. And Nacua is very much their top guy; the Rams also have Cooper Kupp, but Nacua has averaged over twice as many yards in their nine full games together.
And everything should be magnified tonight, with the Vikings having a defense that tends to force opponents to the air. Minnesota ranks 2nd against the run but just 28th versus the pass.
With McVay, he’s not real interested in dumpoff passes or short completions to tight ends. He’s trying to get the ball to his wide receivers. During the regular season, the Rams’ wide receivers averaged a league-high 197 yards per game (and they did so despite both Nacua and Kupp being hurt early in the season).
At the same time, Los Angeles got the fewest receiving yards in their league from both the tight end and running back positions.
I’m in one of those fantasy competitions where you get to use each player only once, and my first move for Week 1 was to pencil in Nacua as one of my starting wide receivers.
RECEIVING YARDS BY POSITION | ||
---|---|---|
Wide receivers | Tight ends | Running backs |
197 LA Rams | 85 Las Vegas | 56 Detroit |
190 Cincinnati | 80 Arizona | 53 Tampa Bay |
183 Atlanta | 78 Kansas City | 52 Miami |
175 Minnesota | 75 Baltimore | 43 Buffalo |
171 Seattle | 71 Seattle | 43 New Orleans |
171 Detroit | 69 New Orleans | 42 NY Jets |
167 Indianapolis | 69 New England | 40 Pittsburgh |
165 Dallas | 66 Cincinnati | 39 Seattle |
165 Tampa Bay | 62 Miami | 38 Arizona |
175 Denver | 56 Cleveland | 37 Baltimore |
164 LA Chargers | 55 Pittsburgh | 36 San Francisco |
162 Houston | 51 Tennessee | 36 Las Vegas |
159 NY Jets | 50 Jacksonville | 35 Kansas City |
158 Green Bay | 50 Minnesota | 33 Cincinnati |
153 San Francisco | 50 Detroit | 33 Washington |
153 Washington | 48 Dallas | 32 Minnesota |
150 NY Giants | 48 Philadelphia | 31 Houston |
149 Chicago | 48 San Francisco | 31 Denver |
147 Cleveland | 48 LA Chargers | 31 Atlanta |
146 Carolina | 47 Tampa Bay | 30 Chicago |
145 Jacksonville | 47 Buffalo | 29 NY Giants |
141 Buffalo | 47 Green Bay | 28 Tennessee |
143 Baltimore | 45 Washington | 27 Green Bay |
134 Tennessee | 40 Houston | 27 Dallas |
134 Philadelphia | 38 Atlanta | 25 New England |
124 Kansas City | 35 NY Jets | 25 Philadelphia |
124 Miami | 35 Carolina | 25 Cleveland |
119 Las Vegas | 30 Chicago | 24 Jacksonville |
118 Pittsburgh | 29 NY Giants | 20 Carolina |
109 Arizona | 28 Denver | 18 LA Chargers |
108 New Orleans | 27 Indianapolis | 17 Indianapolis |
101 New England | 27 LA Rams | 16 LA Rams |
—Ian Allan