Rams-Browns matchup reminds us football is a kids’ game

INGLEWOOD – Bet it was hard to get Puka Nacua to come in for dinner as a kid.

Can you imagine? Cramping couldn’t keep the Rams’ record-breaking rookie receiver off the field in their 36-19 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, nor even could a collision with the ground so fierce it left him without breath and feeling like his shoulder wasn’t where it’s supposed to be.

There’s just no way “Dinnertime!” worked.

Wonder whether Joe Flacco was quicker to answer the dinner bell two weeks ago when he was in the backyard passing the football to his kids and not to Browns receivers Elijah Moore and Harrison Bryant and Jerome Ford, like he was Sunday?

Flacco – the fourth-string quarterback signed onto the Browns’ practice squad on Nov. 20 – came out and treated his first NFL game since Jan. 8 like he was out in the yard, slinging the ball around to his children.

It was that kind of game Sunday at SoFi Stadium, which is to say it was a game that felt like a game. Grown men competing with major stakes at child’s play. And for that, you can credit Sunday’s 22-year-old and a 38-year-old protagonists – unlikely leading men five months or three weeks ago – for setting the tone in the best way.

Nacua brought his typical impossible-not-to-enjoy joy and rode that right into the Rams’ record books.

Within the first few minutes, the fifth-round draft pick set the franchise’s rookie single-season receiving yards standard and became the first rookie in team history to record 1,000 receiving yards in a season – and then got props for it on social media from an athletic hero of his, LeBron James, who was in the Rams’ house Sunday to see Nacua’s handiwork in person: “Congrats Puka on breaking the team rookie record for receiving yards!”

Congrats Puka on breaking the team rookie record for receiving yards! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

— LeBron James (@KingJames) December 3, 2023

Nacua brightened another thousand watts when he learned about it from reporters postgame: “I’m a huge LeBron stan, so I can’t wait to see that one.”

But football, a young man’s sport, isn’t only for young men. That’s what Flacco seemed to be saying when he stepped on the field Sunday, filling in for former UCLA star rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson (concussion), and becoming the oldest player in Browns history to throw a touchdown pass – he threw two, actually, and completed 23 of 44 pass attempts for 254 yards – at 38 years and 321 days old.

Flacco played free, as though he doesn’t have a ton to lose, really, after an NFL career spanning 15 seasons with three teams, including 11 with the Baltimore Ravens – with whom he won Super Bowl XLVII, earning MVP honors.

He’d been waiting impatiently for another shot, sure, but he’s also been in the game long enough to appreciate what matters most: “If you’ve ever heard a retired (player) come back and talk about what they miss, it’s being on trips like this with the guys, going and getting breakfast, lunch, sitting at the table and just shooting the breeze and all that stuff,” Flacco told reporters earlier in the week.

“There’s not too many things that are better in the world than just playing good sound football and feeling good about it,” he said. “It’s about doing it with your teammates and enjoying that experience.”

Nacua’s new to it, but he wouldn’t know any other way.

“I love playing football, I love being a part of this team and all the guys around me,” he said after the game, admitting, yes, he was “a little sore” but that nonetheless, he felt great: “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else beside out there on that field with my guys.”

Nacua finished Sunday’s affair with four catches for 105 yards. That included an improvised 70-yard touchdown connection with Matthew Stafford over fellow BYU product Sione Takitaki, Nacua and the Rams’ veteran QB treating a game with possible playoff implications like a pickup game with friends.

Puka Nacua from 70 yards out!

1,000 yards on the season is a @RamsNFL rookie record@NFL pic.twitter.com/ojpxVh1qJM

— Porter Larsen (@Larsen_ESPN) December 3, 2023

Nacua also took two handoffs for 34 yards, and would’ve had many more yards if a long gain wasn’t called back. And he twice was labeled with a questionable-to-return designation – as if that was going to keep him off the field.

That energy was infectious, felt like, because everyone seemed to be out there having a ball. Seriously, no one was taking anything too seriously.

Even referee John Hussey got on the mic and made one ruling in accordance with a “butt cheek” being in bounds before later scoffing: “After a review of the play, the receiver clearly caught the ball inbounds.”

And afterward, Rams coach Sean McVay had jokes too, including breaking down his decision to try to punch in another touchdown with running back Kyren Williams with fewer than two minutes left in the quarter like this: “Kyren’s on my fantasy team.” (To be clear, “It’s a joke!” he added, “a joke!”)

And, yes, the Rams eventually found themselves having their fun at the Browns’ expense, including when Aaron Donald and Kobie Turner sacked Flacco for a fourth-quarter safety and then went skipping jovially, arm in arm, back to the sideline.

“Just having fun, man,” Donald said. “That’s the way you want to finish a game off, how we was playing all day, finally got to really pin our ears back and get after the quarterback. Just having fun, man, that’s what it’s about, obviously.”

Oh yeah, it was obvious Sunday.

Joe Flacco passing touchdown in his first game with the #Browns. pic.twitter.com/1AkLtVWsPK

— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) December 3, 2023

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Rams-Browns matchup reminds us football is a kids’ game – Daily News

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