The Denver Broncos may not have to face Puka Nacua, but Davante Adams has stepped up in his absence.
At first glance, playing the Los Angeles Rams without star receiver Puka Nacua looks like a serious advantage for the Denver Broncos. Nacua’s a versatile weapon who can hurt opponents in any number of ways, and he brings a unique toughness to the Rams that they’ll definitely miss.
But that’s not necessarily true, according to Nick Kosmider of The Athletic. Nacua is doubtful for Sunday’s game with what’s been described as a soft tissue injury, but the Rams have unleashed Davante Adams instead.
Adams is being targeted more by quarterback Matthew Stafford, and it’s paying off. The star receiver has scored 10 touchdowns on 125 routes the past two seasons when Nacua is off the field, according to TruMedia, and Adams also has six touchdowns on 33 routes when Nacua is on the field. His explosive-catch rate jumps from 34 percent when sharing the field with Nacua to 43 percent without him.
It’s one of those small-sample statistical anomalies that happens when one star gets hurt and another steps up, and it will be interesting to see how the Broncos respond to it. The most likely strategy will be to have cornerback Pat Surtain II shadowing Adams across the field, and these two have a rivalry of sorts that Surtain has won most of the time.
But there are other parts of this that are worth mentioning. The Broncos really haven’t had much of a chance to unleash their potent pass so far, although they did manage to sack Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence twice for 16 yards in their 20-13 win last week.
They’ll need more of the same to slow down Adams. He loves to run deep routes, especially if they come with double moves. Those routes take time to develop, and if the Broncos can take away that time with an effective rush off the edge, their chances of succeeding against Adams will increase exponentially.
The other advantage Denver has in this part of the equation is that Stafford is the definition of immobile at this stage of his career. He’s an absolute statue in the pocket, and putting a couple of big hits on him early would make Adams less relevant than usual and force Stafford to go to the short passing game.
Finally, there’s stopping the run game. The Rams set up Adams by rushing for over six yards a carry against the Giants, and if they’re able to do anything like that against Denver, the odds go up that the receiver will have a big game.
