The play immediately went viral. Jets rookie safety Jamal Adams had lined up three yards off the line of scrimmage and the Raiders ran away from him with Marshawn Lynch breaking a pair of tackles on the way to the end zone. But Adams, displaying incredible heart and athleticism in pursuit of Lynch, wrapped him up and threw Beast Mode to the ground.
"I'm all about just getting to the ball because you never know what can happen," he said. "Plus we were in a goal-line situation, it was a needed stop and I was just trying to do my job and run to the ball. I ended up making a play from the back side."
Lynch ended up scoring on the next play, but Adams' effort should have a lasting impact. He literally leapt over a* two *Jets defenders on his way to corralling the 5'11", 225-pound Lynch for a two-yard gain.
"I've seen it. Everybody has hit me up about it and said that was like one of the craziest plays I've made, but I didn't realize I jumped twice," Adams said. "I didn't realize I jumped over Josh (Martin), I think, I don't remember jumping over twice."
In his first two professional games, Adams has been active with nine tackles including seven solo stops. His energy should be contagious for a Jets defense still looking to find its way. Adams said the stop went over well with his teammates.
"They loved it," he said today. "Now they see I'm a guy that's not going to take a play off. I'm a guy who's going to give his all for the team and go make a play."
While the defense has struggled in multiple areas, both Adams and fellow rookie Marcus Maye, a second-round pick from Florida, have delivered strong performances in the early-going.
"They have a lot of confidence and a lot of trust in Marcus and I in the back end even though we're young," Adams said. "We just try to lock in at all times and treat it like we're vets. When we're on the field and we're preparing, we don't want to be recognized as rookies. We have to be recognized as that vet because we're calling shots in the back end, we're making checks. We had to grow up really quickly obviously and we're taking on that role."
Sunday will mark the first home opener of Adams' career and he is thinking of going to social media himself to create more buzz.
"I can't wait. I'm honestly thinking about sending out a tweet, saying we need all the fans there," he said. "We need all the support. We're definitely going to feed off of them as well as they feed off of us."
