Seahawks react to Jamal Adams’ return, getting hurt again and angry sideline outburst
Julian Love knew what this night meant to Jamal Adams.
Every Seahawk player, coach and staffer did.
They knew the three-time Pro Bowl safety had come from what Adams on Friday had called “a dark place” and considered retirement during his 13 months out with a torn quadriceps tendon.
Teammates understood Adams’ frustration when a doctor and NFL concussion advisor on the sideline Monday night for Seattle’s game at the New York Giants determined with Seahawks doctors that Adams could no longer play because of the concussion he got from Giants quarterback Daniel Jones’ knee hitting his head, .
Nine plays into his return, he was out again.
His helmet taken from him to keep him from returning to the game in the first quarter,. Adams angrily went at the NFL concussion advisor. He pointed and yelled at him outside the blue medical observation tent. Seahawks staffers had to separate him. They walked him around the field into the team’s locker room.
“Obviously a tough situation,” Love, the Giants’ captain until signing with the Seahawks this spring, said inside the visiting locker room in the New Jersey Meadowlands after Seattle’s 24-3 domination of the Giants.
“It’s ... I mean, that’s a lonely place. It’s very tough. It was his homecoming, as well,” Love said of Adams, a former star with the N.Y. Jets.
“But we’ll get back at it. We have a bye, so he’ll get back to us. Because that’s really going to be a really dangerous personnel package for us.”
Carroll pulled his head back and winced when asked how frustrating Monday was for Adams.
“He’s going to be OK,” Carroll said. “You saw it: He got kicked in the head, so he misses this game. But the preparation, to get him to this and then with the week off (this week), he’s going to be fine, for sure.
“It’s just a little glitch, right now.”
The Seahawks (3-1) next play Oct. 15 at Cincinnati (1-3).
Of Adams being furious coming out of the medical tent, Carroll said: “He had a concussion and couldn’t play. By the time he got all his assessments done he couldn’t play.
“Somebody said something, that wasn’t with us, somebody else, that he might have responded to it. I’m not sure about that.
“Just hugging him up and all that.”
On all nine plays Adams had, the Seahawks played with three safeties as Carroll has wanted to for two seasons. Adams was up closer to the line of scrimmage, in front of Love and Pro Bowl veteran Quandre Diggs playing deeper. Adams blitzed twice, once barely missing a sack of Jones. He had two tackles, including the one that put him out. Again.
“It’s very exciting,” Love said. “I’m excited to play next to him and Q. Makes my job a lot easier.”
After Adams got hurt, Carroll and defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt went back to what they’ve used for 21-1/2 of the last 22 games: two safeties.
“He’ll be fine,” Carroll said of Adams. “Frustrating start. But all of the work that he did to get here is what preps him for the next time around. And he’s going to be a big part of what we’re doing.”
This story was originally published October 2, 2023 at 10:29 PM.
