Matthew Stafford has had one of his best starts to a season since joining the Los Angeles Rams in 2021, in part to his amazing duo of wide receivers Puka Nacua and newly acquired Davante Adams. While Adams has been really solid since joining the team, it’s clear that Stafford’s connection with Nacua has been much stronger thus far. Nacua’s 54 catches more than doubles Adam’s 26 catches through six games, but with an ankle injury suffered last week that will most likely keep Nacua out vs. Jacksonville this Sunday, Stafford and Adams now have an opportunity to build a stronger rapport on the field.
It’s not been bad by any means, Adams has 26 catches through six games with 396 yards and three touchdowns – very serviceable number two receiver numbers. However, Adams has never felt like a two, more of a 1a to Puka, and given his gaudy career numbers, it just feels like there’s more to be desired between Stafford and Adams.
The lack of explosive plays between the two could go back to training camp, where Stafford was forced to miss all of the summer practices with back issues. It was Adams first season in Los Angeles, and up until the first game, he had caught the majority of his Rams passes from backup Jimmy Garoppolo. Nacua and Stafford’s success this year was expected as they have been together for years, but Adam has not yet had that time to build a connection with Stafford outside of these first six games.
Adams touched on this with similar sentiments recently, saying there’s nothing to “fix” between him and Stafford, but that they could be more efficient in their play together.
“It’s not how I drew it up as far as efficiency goes,” Rams wide receiver Davante Adams said prior to Wednesday’s practice, evaluating his connection with quarterback Matthew Stafford thus far. “I think we both would’ve liked to be a little bit more efficient, but I know for myself over the last few (games), just based off how we started, (there’s been) a little bit of pressing. I think just playing, going out and playing and figuring it out, me being Davante Adams, him being Matthew Stafford, everybody else being themselves and not feeling a sense of having to fix it and do anything crazy to fix it but just going out and making plays.”
When asked if there was a sense of urgency to make his connection with Stafford stronger now that Nacua is injured, Adams quickly shot that down while referencing how much time it took to get on the same page with current Pittsburgh Steelers QB and future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers.
“We’re not taking our time by any stretch of the imagination,” Adams said, when asked whether he feels a sense of urgency to develop the connection with Stafford quicker with Nacua being injured. “I wouldn’t say a sense of urgency is the necessary term, given we have a pretty good sense of urgency now. It’s just not easy man. I played with (current Steelers quarterback) Aaron (Rodgers) for the majority of my career. We played nine years together basically (in Green Bay). It definitely didn’t start off the first couple years, let alone first couple of games the way that we got going. Not that we have another 10 years to go, but it takes time. It’s not easy. Puka and Matthew have been playing together for years now and they have a little better understanding of where one another is going to be, what to expect, and just making it work. It’s been a few where there’s really no excuse for me or him. We just have to put it together.”
Stafford also spoke about his receiver, echoing Adams lack of worry when it comes to building their play together.
“There’s been some good ones,” Stafford said. “There’s been some missed ones. I would take the majority of the blame on a lot of those and just give him a better chance on a couple. He’s still doing a great job of winning. I missed him on the one corner route in the end zone and he made this guy look foolish. He’s doing a great job separating. I have to give him a couple of better chances… The early execution was just two throws really missed by me. That’s the biggest thing I think when it boils down to it.”
In an extremely competitive NFC West that sees three of the four teams tied with a 4-2 record, the Rams cannot afford to let another game slip away. The problem is that this is not the pushover Jaguars team of the last few years. They also currently sit in second in the AFC South at 4-2 led by offensive trio of RB Travis Etienne, QB Trevor Lawrence and WR Brian Thomas. The advantage for LA is the Jaguar’s secondary, and if Nacua is unavailable, the combination of Adams, Atwell and Whittington will need to take advantage of the NFL’s 30th ranked pass defense.
The Jaguars may have had some success overall this season but are still allowing an average of 256.3 passing yards per game. Stafford and Adams have a real chance to exploit this secondary on Sunday and show that their connection for 2025 should not be doubted going forward.
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