BOSTON, MA (WBZ-AM) — The Super Bowl's approaching, but a Jets player found a way to make this weekend's usually-dull Pro Bowl interesting—at least, the lead-up.
New England beat up on New York in both meetings this year by a combined 49 points, and second-year safety Jamal Adams is probably still feeling the lumps, so he decided to hand some back during Wednesday's Pro Bowl workout—to the Pats' mascot.
"Watch, I'ma go knock out that Patriots mascot," he tells a crowd, before tackling Pat Patriot. Watch the video below:
Fans attending the Pro Bowl workout were booing the Pats' mascot all day, until Adams likely earned himself a whole new level of respect from football fans across the country, or at least, outside of New England.
It was unclear if Pat Patriot was in on the plan, but he took a clean body-slam from Adams.
Patriots rivals Von Miller, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and DeMarcus Ware all had a front row seat and got a good laugh, and as some on social media began to see the hit as cruel, Adams maintained that it was a harmless joke.
The story took an un-funny turn when Adams claimed in an interview with ESPN that he was told the person in the suit was hospitalized.
"They're not happy with me right now, the NFL's calling my phone blowing me up, saying I put him in the hospital, so I gotta go check on him, make sure he's okay," Adams said.
But WFXT-TV's Tom Leyden reported that a team spokesperson said the man in the mascot suit was not hospitalized, but sought medical attention after the hit, which was described as a "painful attack."
Adams told ESPN that hurting the mascot was never his intention.
"It was all about just a joke but I definitely want to check on him and make sure everything is good," Adams told ESPN. "At the end of the day we were out here just having fun and it wasn’t nothing intentionally to try to hurt the guy."
But in a video of the interview posted to Twitter, Adams told ESPN's Dianna Russini in true Adams fashion that he didn't regret the tackle.
That last part's just weird. No real sign of remorse.
The hit was unprovoked, and could've resulted in a real problem. Adams is 215 lbs., and made a leaping tackle. He's fortunate he isn't the one with any issues—legally.
WBZ NewsRadio's Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKafuman) reports.