This year’s Pro Bowlers arrived in Orlando, Florida, earlier this week and got in their first practice of the week on Wednesday. Since there’s a combination of players from around the league joining forces, there’s bound to be a little bit of bad blood carried over from the season between divisional rivals.
New York Jets safety Jamal Adams and the New England Patriots’ mascot, Pat Patriot, were two individuals who had some of that bad blood left over from the season. During the practice, Adams put on a bit of a show for the fans by absolutely destroying Pat Patriot with a massive tackle, but it turns out didn’t exactly go as planned.
ESPN Staff Writer Michael DiRocco spoke to Adams about the hit, who mentioned that the person inside the Pat Patriot costume ended up being hospitalized from the big hit, but those weren’t his intentions.
Via Michael DiRocco, ESPN.com:
Adams said he was told the person inside the mascot costume was hospitalized on Thursday morning, but the NFL has not yet confirmed that information. Adams said the NFL is not happy with him because of the incident. “He [the mascot] was running around and everybody was booing him, so I said, ‘You know what? Let me go tackle him,’ Adams said. “I didn’t hit him that hard, man. All jokes aside, I didn’t hit him that hard. I don’t know what’s really going on, but they did tell me he’s in the hospital. 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 were out here just having fun and it wasn’t nothing intentionally to try to hurt the guy.”
Hopefully the person inside the costume at the time of the hit is doing alright.
(H/T ESPN)
