It’s been nearly 50 years since Cincinnati Reds outfielder Pete Rose destroyed Indians catcher Ray Fosse in a collision at the plate in the 1970 MLB All-Star Game.
How you feel about Jamal Adams’ fiery Pro Bowl is a litmus test for who you are as a sports fan
Jamal Adams played the Pro Bowl like it was a regular season game.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
On the one hand, it was pretty awesome that Rose was a lunatic who couldn’t play baseball at any speed except balls-to-the-wall. On the other hand, dude, chill out. This was long before the MLB All-Star Game decided homefield advantage World Series, too. His collision was pretty pointless and resulted in a separated shoulder for Fosse that still causes him chronic pain.
How you feel about that moment is a litmus test for who you are as a sports fan. And that probably informs how you feel about Jamal Adams’ weekend at the Pro Bowl.
Adams is a 23-year-old spitfire who does a little bit of everything in the New York Jets secondary. He finished his second NFL season with 3.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, one interception, 12 passes defensed, and his first trip to the Pro Bowl.
And — like Rose in 1970 — Adams showed Sunday his only speed is full speed, even when it doesn’t matter much at all.
Adams hit everyone — even mascots
Blitzing has been illegal in the Pro Bowl for a while now, because — really — the important thing is that everyone makes it through 60 minutes of football without getting hurt.
That’s why NFC coach Jason Garrett wasn’t too happy with Adams tearing off the edge to drill Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky on an ill-advised flea flicker.
Adams didn’t get a penalty on the play, because the handoff to Alvin Kamara made Trubisky fair game.
Trubisky wasn’t even the worst Adams victim of the day. Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard got hit even harder by the Jets safety on some friendly fire.
Howard was the second AFC East rival of the Jets to get smashed by Adams that week. A few days prior to the Pro Bowl, Adams destroyed the Patriots’ mascot in a practice.
That seemed like a funny moment at the time — it certainly entertained the crowd and other players. But it became much less funny when it was revealed that the man inside the Pat Patriot costume was injured.
Apparently that moment didn’t get Adams to dial back his aggression for game day. And nobody should’ve been surprised after Adams posted a tweet Sunday morning that showed Washington safety Sean Taylor destroying Bills punter Brian Moorman in the 2006 Pro Bowl:
Adams channeled Taylor all day.
The Pro Bowl Defensive MVP Award was an easy choice
In addition to his big hit on Trubisky, Adams also got an interception when he tracked down an errant pass thrown Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen:
Adams was all over the field Sunday, finishing with two tackles, one for a loss, a sack, a pass deflection, and an interception. He was hard to miss on the field, because he spent the whole day showing his enthusiasm to compete in a mostly meaningless game:
Adams probably would’ve been wise to ease up in the Pro Bowl. The worst case scenario is that a player gets hurt during the game. It would’ve been extremely unfortunate if Trubisky or Howard had been injured by Adams just a few days after the incident with the Patriots’ mascot.
The only players who appeared to get injured Sunday were AFC receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Keenan Allen — neither of whom was on the field at the same time as Adams. It didn’t appear either injury was too serious, either.
Thankfully, Adams playing the Pro Bowl like it was a regular-season game ended up being harmless fun. It also made him an easy choice for the 2019 Pro Bowl Defensive MVP.
How did you feel about Jamal Adams’ week?
Adams laying out and injuring Pat Patriot bothered plenty of people. It even drew the ire of the godfather of being angry about sports.
Adams responded by telling Bayless that he’s just “giving the fans a show.”
His Pro Bowl teammates didn’t seem bothered by Adams, however. Earlier in the week, Smith-Schuster tweeted a recruiting pitch for Adams to join him as a member of the Steelers.
The Jets probably won’t be letting their star safety leave any time soon, though.
There are some fans — like Bears fans who held their breath when Trubisky got hit — who would’ve preferred Adams slowed down a bit. There are likely many more fans who loved seeing someone playing the Pro Bowl like it was a real football game. How you felt about his fiery performance probably says a lot about which kind of sports fan you are.
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