It’s hard not to be superstitious when you’re a sports fan. After all, most of us grew up fearing that our favorite player would end up on the cover of EA Sports’ Madden. Unfortunately, it seems as if there’s a new curse to fear, and it comes along with Tom Brady’s LFG Player of the Game award.
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After he produced 181 receiving yards on nine receptions in Week 15, the star wide receiver of the Los Angeles Rams, Puka Nacua, was presented with the award during his post-game interview. While Nacua was able to improve in Week 16 by recording an astounding 225 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 12 receptions, all anyone can seem to talk about is the week’s worth of controversy that surrounded him after receiving Brady’s award.
Prior to their Thursday night match up against the Seattle Seahawks, Nacua’s brother, Samson, was arrested for stealing a car that belonged to Adou Thiero, a forward for the Los Angeles Lakers. Nacua then found himself in hot water after he criticized NFL officials on a live stream prior to suggesting that he would perform what many called an “antisemitic gesture” as his next touchdown celebration by wringing his hands together.
Another example can be found in the reigning Super Bowl MVP, Jalen Hurts, who received Brady’s LFG Player of the Game award after throwing for four touchdowns against the New York Giants in Week 8. After receiving his edition of the award, Hurts would go on to produce just three passing touchdowns throughout the Philadelphia Eagles next three games following their bye week.
And then there’s the star quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, Dak Prescott, who won the award one week prior to Hurts by throwing for three touchdowns and 264 yards against the Washington Commanders in Week 7. After receiving his autographed football from Brady, Prescott would go on to throw for nothing more than 188 yards and two interceptions against the Denver Broncos just seven days later.
Now obviously there’s more going on here than just Brady projecting curses and hexes onto the silver footballs that he is handing out to players. Match ups, injuries, the overall form of each team, and so much, all go into deciding the final result of any individual or team performance on game day.
There may be something to be said for the fact that human beings tend to slack off a bit after receiving praise, but outside of that, there’s no real concrete evidence that suggests that fans should be terrified of seeing their team’s best player chatting with Brady after the game.
