Rams Sean McVay Addresses Puka Nacua's Criticisms of NFL Referees

WOODLAND HILLS, Ca. It's been a week for the Los Angeles Rams. After losing to the Seattle Seahawks, Rams head coach Sean McVay was peppered with questions on Puka Nacua's behavior this week.

Nacua appeared on a live stream for which he was baited into making a hand gesture that is deemed to be antisemitic before he tried to bring those streamers, Adin Ross and N3ON inside the Rams' facility, before behind denied entry.

Nacua also criticized NFL referees in the stream and then doubled down on his words regarding the refs after the game in a tweet. Nacua has apologized for all of his actions, with McVay speaking on them during his Friday presser.

McVay on Monday

McVay was asked about Nacua's now-deleted tweet. McVay addressed the issue, backing Nacua as a person while criticizing the actions. McVay made it clear that the Rams would not punish Nacua further than the $25,000 fine he received from the league.

“He's going to continue to mature," stated McVay. "It's similar to what I said yesterday. I talked with him right afterwards. He is a young guy that is continuing to learn the importance of his platform. Like I said, I love him. I love his heart. What I want to continue to educate him on is there are platforms that he's got an incredible influence on. There's a time to be able to have people to vent to. That is not the space to do that. He knows that and I feel very confident that that will not be an issue for us moving forward. He does care a lot."

Dec 18, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua (12) warms up before the game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

"There are other places to be able to get some of that frustration out, whether that's sharing it with me, his teammates or in settings that are more controlled where things don't become an unnecessary conversation where we don't have to answer those questions and that's not something that he wants to do. I do know that. I'm very, very confident that we'll be headed in a direction that these will not be issues moving forward because I'm betting on the human being."

Dec 7, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

"I'm going to put my arm around him. The narrative doesn't change from yesterday in regard to we're always going to be able to learn. I think he's a great example of being able to learn from it and I think you guys are going to see that moving forward. I don’t think, I know you will.”

McVay Details What He Wants From Nacua

McVay was asked what accountability looks like from Nacua and in his response, McVay went over his limited knowledge of certain events that took place this week, spoke on Nacua's recent appearance on a live stream, and went over some of the things he talked about with his star wide receiver.

“I think it's understanding the circumstance number one," stated McVay. "I don't know the totality of all the stuff that happened with the streamers. I am very naive and I don't pay attention to that stuff because that doesn't give me…I just don't waste my time with that stuff so I was not really aware of a lot of the circumstances until [Vice President of Communications] Artis [Twyman] had brought it to my attention. Then you address it."

"What I want him to be aware of is that he has an amazing platform and influence because he has this great personality. He's got this amazing ability to compete the way he does on the field so let's use these blessings and understand what accompanies that. There are sometimes where maybe you're in positions where you're not even realizing you're susceptible to do things that you don't even mean to do. That was a great example the other day of he's sitting there and whatever that celebration they were trying to talk him into was, I know he had zero idea that was potentially offensive to anybody. There’s one learning opportunity and he's going to continue to do that."

"Then the other things are, that doesn't move us forward to tweet about officials. Whatever you feel, even if you feel like you’re merited in what it is, you still have to understand, does this move me forward? Where are the platforms and the places to be able to vent? Which I think is healthy to be able to get things off your chest that do it in the manner that's reflective of how we want to be able to operate. Then how he can represent and epitomize the type of leader in the caliber of person that he wants to be on a daily basis. Those are the things that we talked about. I love him. I love this guy. I'm going to put my arm around him. I love our players. I think a huge responsibility of coaches is to make sure that you're in it with them and you're helping them work through things that are not exclusive to just being special football players."

"That's not something that we take lightly. That's why I'm so adamant in his defense because I know this guy's heart and I trust my intuition on that and I'm betting on him. I think these will be blessings that he can be able to learn from and hopefully people give him some grace in the midst of some mistakes. I appreciate his ownership and accountability. Now that only resonates with people if you do fix it and these aren't continuous things that pop up and I'm confident that that's the trajectory that we're headed towards.”

Nacua had 12 catches for 225 yards and two touchdowns against Seattle.

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