While the Seattle Seahawks aren’t certain they’ll have safety Jamal Adams on the field for Saturday’s playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams, Sean McVay is fully expecting to see Adams on the opposite side of the field.
“We’ll see, I mean we’ve got to plan for him being ready to go,” McVay, the Rams head coach, said on Tuesday. “I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t [play] just from afar watching how tough he is and I think what probably this opportunity in this game means to him.”
Adams injured his left shoulder in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win over the San Francisco 49ers. As Adams came on a blitz, he absorbed a block from 49ers running back Jerick McKinnon. Adams came off the field and was evaluated in the sideline injury tent. He then tossed his helmet and showed obvious frustration on the sideline afterward. He did return to the field for two plays as a strip-sack by Benson Mayowa allowed Seattle to seal away the game.
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said he believes it will take until game day to figure out if Adams will be able to play.
“He’s going to work through the week and see what he can get done and see if he’s OK. We’ll have to wait all the way up until game day to figure that out,” Carroll said.
Adams made a few key plays for Seattle in their victory over the Rams two weeks ago, including stops of running backs Darrell Henderson and Malcolm Brown inside the 5-yard line.
“He’s one of those guys I’ve always thought was a really good player watching him from afar with the Jets,” McVay said of Adams. “But then when you play against him twice in person you feel his presence, man. He’s a great close quarters tackler he’s got great play energy. Just his overall energy when he’s going forward, obviously the stats speak for themselves when you talk about he’s setting the sack record for DBs and things like that. But he is a violent football player, big time impact guy. I think he’s made a huge difference.”
Adams injured his other shoulder in Seattle’s first meeting with the Rams in November. He’s also been playing with a pair of broken fingers the last many weeks. Adams has been extremely excited to make the playoffs with Seattle and be a part of their NFC West division winning team this year after his trade from New York. It would presumably have to be a significant shoulder injury to keep Adams out of the lineup this weekend.