Matthew Stafford Gives Advice to Puka Nacua After Tweet Calling Out NFL Refs

Los Angeles Rams star receiver Puka Nacua found himself in some hot water last week when he made some disparaging comments about NFL referees, so veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford felt the need to provide some words of wisdom.

During Tuesday's episode of the Let's Go! podcast, Stafford was asked by host Jim Gray about what advice he has for Nacua, and he didn't mince words.

"Well, we need all the help we can get from the stripes, you know? So, it's not fun when he's running routes, guys are tugging on his jersey and stuff, I don't know if he's gonna get too many calls," Stafford said (5:55 mark).

Nacua appeared on a live stream during the week leading up to Thursday night's game against the Seattle Seahawks and declared that NFL referees "are the worst" while claiming that they make wrong calls on purpose. After the Rams suffered a 38-37 loss in an overtime thriller that included some questionable calls, Nacua doubled down on his criticism of the officiating in a now-deleted tweet:

Stafford went on to advise the third-year star to use his voice for positive messages to avoid generating any outside noise in the future.

"He's an outstanding football player. He plays at an unbelievable clip for our team. Like I said, there's learning opportunities for him all over the place," Stafford said. "He's a young kid, he's trying to figure it out. He's got a lot of opportunities to have his voice be heard; we gotta do as good a job as we possibly can making sure that whatever comes out is a positive thing."

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Nacua, who exploded with 12 catches for 225 yards and two touchdowns in the loss, represents a new generation of stars who could control their own narrative through avenues like social media and live streaming, so Stafford suggested that he uses his voice responsibly.

"He's got this unbelievable platform to go be this great leader for, not only our team, but for kids out there and people all over the United States that love this game and love him as a fan," Stafford said. "That's the biggest learning opportunity for him: 'Hey, what you say can have such a positive impact on our team, on the people around you, the people that care about you, and also fans out there all across the country. So, do as good a job as we can moving forward at making sure that when we do say things, it's for a positive impact for our team, the players, the fans, everybody that's involved.' That's the step I think we need to take."