Watch: Jets Star Supports 'Every Patriots Hater,' Demolishes New England Mascot
Every so often, a story emerges where some overzealous sports fan steps outside the bounds of good taste and friendly competition and does something that makes even his friends say, “Dude, not cool.”
Jamal Adams of the New York Jets just won the Dude Not Cool Award with a savage hit on a guy in a mascot costume during Pro Bowl practices Wednesday in Orlando, Florida.
The mascot was Pat Patriot from AFC East rival New England.
Adams got a good running start and flat-out wrecked the guy.
“This one is for every Patriots hater out there!” he tweeted.
This one is for every Patriots hater out there! I got y’all! pic.twitter.com/q0WAbDfrpL
— Jamal Adams (@TheAdamsEra) January 24, 2019
Plenty of people thought it was funny at first. Even the NFL’s own “Checkdown” social media account retweeted Adams, and ESPN shared it along with a laughing emoji.
But as every kid on a playground knows, it’s only funny until someone gets hurt, and the guy in the costume was shaken up badly enough to require medical attention.
Initial reports said the mascot ended up in the hospital, but the Patriots denied that element of the story, instead saying the person in the Pat costume was treated by the sideline medic before getting back up and around.
Normally, the correct response in this situation is to apologize and say, “It was just a bit of fun. I never meant to hurt someone.”
Adams’ initial reaction was … not that.
“They’re not happy with me right now. The NFL is calling my phone, blowing me up, saying that I put him in the hospital so I gotta go check on him, make sure he’s OK,” Adams said. “But do I regret it? NOOOOOOOOOO!”
Since most of us saw Jamal Adams’s video of him tackling the Patriot mascot…he’s been getting heat for it… Does he regret it? pic.twitter.com/ecG2zQVnO7
— Dianna Russini (@diannaESPN) January 24, 2019
Later, Adams issued a more sensible statement.
“He (the mascot) was running around and everybody was booing him, so I said, ‘You know what? Let me go tackle him,'” Adams said, according to ESPN’s Michael DiRocco. “I didn’t hit him that hard, man. All jokes aside, I didn’t hit him that hard. …
“My intention was never to hurt him. it was all about just a joke, but I definitely want to check on him and make sure everything is good. 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.”
The mascot, however, doesn’t seem keen on reconciliation.
“Hate us ’cause they ain’t us,” Pat Patriot tweeted in character.
Hate us cause they ain’t us ? https://t.co/8UxlYbAZ75
— Pat Patriot (@PatPatriot) January 23, 2019
And a Patriots spokesman said outright that the mascot is just “sore.”
Although not as sore as Jets fans having to watch their team go 4-12 while the Patriots are again headed to the Super Bowl.
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