Seahawks’ Jamal Adams to his many critics: I’ve got nothing to prove. ‘I’m blessed, man’
Jamal Adams is a lightning rod on a last-place team weathering more than one storm.
Two months after holding in then becoming the highest-paid safety in NFL history with a $70 million contract, Adams has zero interceptions. He has zero sacks. He has zero quarterback hits, zero turnovers forced and one pass defensed in six games.
Analysts, fans, Uber drivers, seemingly everyone including the neighbor’s dog has an opinion about Adams — particularly in light of what the Seahawks gave up then paid to get and keep the 2019 All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowl safety.
Those opinions aren’t flattering.
As if he portrayed a care.
“I don’t get caught up in all that, man,” Adams said Thursday, four days after he had a near interception clang off his face mask late in Seattle’s overtime loss at Pittsburgh that dropped the Seahawks to 2-4 and four games out of the NFC West lead.
“I’m blessed, man. I’m 26. I’m doing what I love to do. I come to work each and every day, I’m happy. My mom’s happy. My dad’s happy. Everybody back home is happy.
“And, so, I have nothing to complain about.”
That’s another way he differs from his critics.
“As an athlete at the highest level, you have to keep your confidence. You can’t let anybody write your story,” he said. “Or, if you make a mistake or you fail at something, you know, you’ve just got to keep your confidence going. Because at the end of the day, you are always going to have another opportunity to maximize or change that outcome.”
A national television audience during the Seahawks’ game in Pittsburgh — at least those inclined to react online on social media — had a ball Sunday night with Adams.
The Steelers had a second and 15 at the Seattle 46-yard line with 1:53 remaining in a tie game. Ben Roethlisberger threw a pass over the middle that his receiver Diontae Johnson didn’t show a ton of interest in going to catch. Adams stepped up from behind, into the space Johnson’s hesitancy created, into position for his first interception in two seasons with Seattle and third of his five-year career.
The ball hit Adams in the facemask.
Asked what happened, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said after the game: “I don’t know. It was really loud, though. It smacked him pretty good.”
Instead of the Seahawks having the ball near midfield in a tie game with just under 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Steelers kicked a 52-yard field goal for a 20-17 lead.
“Obviously, I dropped a pick,” Adams said Thursday. “But it is what it is.
“I’ll have another opportunity, don’t worry.”
The intro
The football-watching nation also ripped Adams for his self-introduction NBC aired at the start of its game broadcast, while presenting each starter on the Seahawks’ defense.
“I’m the best in the nation!” Adams said, instead of saying he was from LSU.
Turns out, Adams was imitating a viral video a friend of his had sent of Trabis Ward, a former Tennessee State University player who posted a video years ago saying “I’m the best in the nation!” online.
Ward, a 31-year-old father of three, was shot and killed in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, in October 2020.
“It was a viral video that’s been around for a long time,” Adams said. “I came across it — one of my guys sent it to me, in a group message — and I just so happened to have my Sunday night football intro that I needed to do. Gave him some love.
“Rest in peace to him. He did pass away. He got shot in, in October. Found that out. Did not know that.
“But it’s a funny, viral video that did come out. I’m not looking for apologies. I don’t need it. I’m a grown man. I don’t care about the memes, the social media, I don’t get into that. I’m not on Twitter. I am on Instagram.”
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Blitzing less
This time last season, the Seahawks had recently traded two first-round draft choices plus veteran starting safety Bradley McDougald to the New York Jets to acquire Adams. Carroll and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. sent Adams on more blitzes than they normally give a defensive back. The Seahawks were using Adams to create pressure on quarterbacks their defensive line wasn’t getting.
It worked — but at a high price.
Adams blitzed on more than 10% of the Seahawks’ defensive plays in 2020. He set an NFL record for defensive backs with 9 1/2 sacks last season.
Opponents threw the ball 674 times against Seattle in 2020. That’s 664 times Adams did not sack the quarterback. The Seahawks were allowing the most passing yards and points in NFL history through the first half of last year. Adams’ blitzing often left fellow Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs alone in the deep center of the field. Opponents took advantage with huge pass plays.
Seattle traded at the end of October for two-time pass rusher Carlos Dunlap from Cincinnati. He revitalized the dead defensive line. Adams blitzed less over the final month of last season. He played with a torn labrum in his shoulder and broken fingers that required multiple surgeries this past winter.
This offseason the Seahawks re-signed Dunlap and fellow end Benson Mayowa and signed free agent Kerry Hyder after his 8 1/2-sack season for San Francisco. The plan was to rely on those guys up front. Adams would play more in the back of the defense in coverage in 2021, to reduce the risk of giving up deep passes.
Adams entered last weekend’s game at Pittsburgh blitzing about half as much as 2020. Because of poor cornerback play and Adams failing in big moments down the field, particularly in Seattle’s home loss to the Rams this month, the Seahawks allowed at least 450 yards in four straight games. That tied an NFL record.
Meanwhile Dunlap, Mayowa and Hyder collectively have just one sack. Second-year end Darrell Taylor has four of Seattle’s 11 sacks through six games. The Seahawks have the fifth-fewest sacks in the league.
Blitzing less, Adams hasn’t touched a quarterback through six games.
Carroll doesn’t sense Adams is frustrated or pressing.
“I don’t think any more than any other player,” Carroll said.
“He’s a tightly wound, high-strung guy. He wants things to happen, and he wants to make it happen. ... He’s truly a great competitor. It really matters to him how you do things, how he does his stuff and how he can be held accountable for the club. ...
“He’s got his head in the right place.”
Asked if he has any hesitation to blitz Adams this season, Carroll said: “No — other than reporting late. We both know that it slowed down the process, because we had to get him ready in two weeks. That was just a natural part of the way it unfolded.
“We are no longer in that mode. He’s in full mode to do whatever we can think of, and he’s excited to do that.”
And do that more effectively. Adams says when he has rushed he’s gotten more attention from blockers than he did last season setting the sacks record.
“Obviously, I’ve dealt with being chipped, double teams, sliding the protection,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, that’s a respect thing, for me, for myself, that they respect me. I understand that.”
More chances
The Seahawks changed how they used Adams last weekend in Pittsburgh. Carroll and Norton had Adams on the line of scrimmage seven times and blitzed him at Roethlisberger and on running plays five times in the first 14 defensive snaps. The Steelers were scoreless.
Then, he — and the game in Pittsburgh — changed. Adams went back to where he was the first five games: deeper, off the line in coverage. He had no blitzes and aligned just four times on the line of scrimmage in Pittsburgh’s next 22 offensive snaps. Three of those four came when the Steelers were inside the 5-yard line.
In those 22 snaps with Adams not blitzing and mostly off the line, the game went from a scoreless tie to 14-0 Pittsburgh.
Why hasn’t he blitzed more this season?
“That’s a good question,” he said.
Against the Rams in Seattle’s previous game, Oct. 7 also on national television, the Seahawks were leading 7-3 in the third quarter. Adams lost DeSean Jackson on a deep post route. Matthew Stafford underthrew the ball. The receiver ran in to get it while Adams kept running deep. Adams was 3 yards behind Jackson when he made the catch. Then he ran around Adams for a 68-yard gain that set up L.A.’s go-ahead touchdown.
Also in that game, the Rams isolated tight end Tyler Higbee on Adams on a red-zone play, an out route in the end zone. Adams didn’t react quickly to Higbee’s simple out cut. He was way behind the receiver unable to challenge the pass as it arrived for an easy Los Angeles touchdown in another Seahawks loss.
Asked Thursday about those Rams plays, plus the missed interception in Pittsburgh, Adams said, flatly: “Yeah, it didn’t happen. Got another opportunity.”
Adams has been in the league long enough to know all the criticism of him, the defense and the Seahawks would go away with victories.
“The ultimate goal is to get wins. And we haven’t been winning,” he said.
This story was originally published October 21, 2021 at 4:19 PM.
