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When Puka Nacua seemingly hauled in an absurd one-handed catch to set up a potential game-tying field goal with five seconds remaining, all anyone could do was watch in disbelief. Falcons running back Bijan Robinson was as stunned as everyone else when it seemed like the Los Angeles Rams had done the impossible.
Nacua’s catch ended up being incomplete when the replay showed the ball coming loose as he fell to the turf out of bounds. Robinson still recalls the moment he believed everything was about to fall apart right in front of him.
“I saw the replay, and I was like, ‘Man, he caught the ball,'” Robinson said, via ‘The Athletic.’ “‘C’mon, please, lord. Not today.’ Then we saw that A.J. [Terrell] pulled his wrist, and we were like, ‘Game over!'”
The catch would have set up the Rams at the 34-yard line, which would have given kicker Harrison Mevis about a 51-yard attempt to tie the game. Instead, what initially appeared to be an impossible play from Nacua turned out to be a great play from cornerback A.J. Terrell, who forced the incompletion by pulling the receiver’s arm at the last second.
IMAGINE IF PUKA CAUGHT THIS pic.twitter.com/nk1KrKavOd
— ESPN (@espn) December 30, 2025
The Falcons did a stellar job against Nacua all night, holding the NFL’s leader in receiving yards per game to just 47 receiving yards. That total is Nacua’s fewest in a game all season, aside from an injury-shortened Week 6 outing against the Baltimore Ravens.
Conversely, the Rams had nothing for Robinson on the other end. The two-time Pro Bowler did whatever he wanted with the ball and single-handedly carried the Falcons to victory. Robinson racked up 229 scrimmage yards on 27 total touches, inching him closer to Chris Johnson’s single-season record of 2,509 scrimmage yards with one game remaining.
The Rams entered the game with a top-10 rushing defense and had only allowed two 100-yard rushers, Derrick Henry and Kenneth Walker III, against them all season. Robinson’s 93-yard touchdown run in the second quarter is the longest play Los Angeles has allowed this season and the longest rushing touchdown of the year.
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