Seahawks Jamal Adams pumped for Cowboys by Dallas pals relaying he ‘struggles in coverage’
Jamal Adams is all Texan.
The native of the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Lewisville, Denton County, has a star tattoo on his right thigh. Not the upright, iconic star of the Dallas Cowboys; he’s a New York Giants fan from his father, George Adams, playing for that NFL team.
Jamal Adams’ tattoo is the more modern, more-leaning star logo of the Dallas Stars, the NHL team that is playing right now for the Stanley Cup.
Thing is, the Seahawks’ All-Pro safety isn’t even a hockey fan.
“I’m not really into hockey. I’m going to be honest with you, bro,” Adams said. “I got the tattoo because I am from Dallas, and I wanted to do something unique. I thought it was pretty cool at the time. Still think it’s pretty cool. ...
“It’s pretty dope.”
So are Adams’ friends from Dallas-Fort Worth. He talks with them regularly.
This week, it’s been every day, in advance of his hometown Cowboys (1-1) coming to CenturyLink Field to play Adams’ Seahawks (2-0).
His Metroplex buds are keeping Adams armed with the most common motivator of the modern professional athlete:
The chip on the shoulder from a perceived — real or imagined — slight.
“I’ve seen a couple things. They said I struggle in coverage,” the All-Pro safety said Thursday. “So, I can’t wait.”
He sounded like Michael Jordan, manufacturing motivation from alleged sources who might (or more likely might not have) slighted him in the smallest of ways before Jordan dumped 40 and 10 on them back in the day.
Yet Adams insists his Dallas detractors are real.
“I got a little text from one of my buddies back home, so he has the inside scoop on this,” Adams said. “So, looking forward to it.”
He smiled.
“Keep the chip on my shoulder — at all TIIIIMES,” he said, playfully.
So, wait: Who told Adams in Dallas that he, a two-time Pro Bowl safety in his three NFL seasons, has trouble covering receivers?
“Ah, I can’t tell you that, man. C’mon!” he said. “Can’t give you the nuggets like that, man.
“Nah, just, I grew up with a couple guys who are still my brothers, best friends to this day. We talk every day. Group messaging.
“You know,” he said with a smile, “what goes on in Dallas, it always comes back to me. I always find out the scoop.
“Just a little edge, you know, a little chip on my shoulder to go out there and continue to do what I’m doing.”
Adams contributed to the belief he “struggles in coverage.”
From his most recent game.
Three times Julian Edelman got behind Adams last Sunday night in Seattle’s 35-30 win over New England. It’s the cardinal rule of coach Pete Carroll’s defense in Seattle: don’t get beaten deep.
In the third quarter with the score tied at 14, Adams’ aggressiveness that’s earned him 22 tackles in first two games for Seattle since his splashy summer trade from the New York Jets worked against him. He got caught peeking into the Patriots backfield as quarterback Cam Newton faked a handoff to Rex Burkhead. He never saw Edelman run from left on a diagonal to the right behind him. He never saw his All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner hand off the passing Edelman through his middle zone into Adams’ deeper zone in the center of the field. Newton lofted a pass Adams was late to get back to, resulting in a 26-yard gain to the Seahawks 22-yard line.
In an example of the high-risk, high-reward style Adams plays, he saved Seattle four points at the end of that drive his mistake helped extend. On third and goal from the 7, Adams and K.J. Wright blitzed off the defense’s right edge. Wright tied up Burkhead, the lone back to block a blitzer. Adams sprinted from the left side of the offensive formation all the way to the right to run down Newton, just as the huge, fast quarterback turned upfield intending to score a touchdown on a scramble run. The 0-yard sack forced New England to settle for a field goal instead.
Later in the third quarter, New England flipped the field at Adams’ expense. Adams knows from three years playing the Patriots twice each season while with the Jets in the AFC East that Edelman is an extraordinary crossing-route runner underneath. Edelman ran a pattern at Adams and took one step and a shoulder fake inside, as if about run yet another crossing route at the Patriots 40-yard line. Adams ran up hard at the crosser. Edelman ran a go route past Adams, down the left seam of the field. He dived and caught Newton’s pass behind Adams for a 49-yard gain to the Seattle 28.
“I took my eyes off him,” Adams said Thursday, “and he got behind me.”
Five plays later the Patriots scored a touchdown to trim the Seahawks’ lead to 28-23.
But, again, Adams came up with a big play to save points after his mistake. On New England’s ensuring two-point conversion try to get within a field goal of Seattle, Adams ran hard into the “A” gap between the guard and the center immediately after the snap. He was the only Seahawk in the gaping hole Newton ran into on a quarterback power run up the middle. Adams stopped him to keep the score 28-23.
But, but ...
With 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter and Newton frantically rallying New England from being down 35-23, Edelman again got past Adams down the middle and had inside position on the safety the entire route. It was a relatively easy catch for 33 yards to the 1. The Patriots scored on the next play to make it 35-30 game and set up a frantic finish.
After the game, a questioner tried to focus Carroll on the six points Adams saved the Seahawks in a game they won by five. But Carroll, a former defensive back, secondary coach and defensive coordinator with exacting standards on playing the pass, focused more on what Adams did not do against New England.
“He’s doing a good job. He needs to clean things up. There’s a lot of football out here that he is working on to get right,” Carroll said.
“He’s an incredible football player. Twenty-something tackles in the first two weeks, and two sacks (of the team’s total of three this season). ... He’s a fantastic football player, and we love him.”
Adams’ assessment: “Listen, things like that happen, and I’m man enough to admit that. It’s part of the game. I’m not perfect. No one’s perfect. ...
“It’s always room for improvement. And I strive off of that and I feed off of it.”
Adams has been wearing a bulky, black, knee-like brace over his right elbow. That’s from a Falcons offensive lineman falling on him in the first half of the opener two weeks ago as Adams was sacking Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan.
Asked about his “Gronkowski brace,” Adams corrected: “It’s a Ray Lewis brace.”
All of those catches by Edelman on Adams came with Adams’ partner at safety Quandre Diggs missing. Diggs got ejected in the first quarter for a helmet-to-helmet hit on New England’s N’Keal Harry following a catch.
Lano Hill, usually the dime back and a strong safety by pedigree, came in at free safety to replace Diggs. The Patriots successfully targeted him, too, for many of their 397 yards passing.
Diggs will be back against the potent Cowboys offense as the underappreciated glue guy that keeps the Seahawks secondary whole, in the right place and on the correct assignments.
He can only help. Seattle has allowed a NFL-worst 831 yards passing with just one sack by a defensive lineman in 91 opposing drop backs so far this season.
Adams has a message to Diggs for Sunday’s game against the Cowboys — and beyond.
“I told Diggs, I said if he gets ejected again I’m going to delete his number and unfollow him off of Instagram and Twitter.
“So if he leaves us out there to dry again, we’re going to have some problems.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 7:06 PM.
