Jamal Adams Says He Didn't Mean To Light Up Patriots Mascot [Update]

Jets defensive back Jamal Adams had a little fun—or thought he was having a little fun—by delivering the boom on his division rival’s mascot Pat Patriot at the Pro Bowl festivities Wednesday. It was a solid hit, and the person in the suit played it off like everything was okay.

Although Pat Patriot seemed fine in the moment, Adams claimed today that his tackle had sent that poor soul to the hospital for an undisclosed injury. (Update: A Patriots flack described the mascot’s condition as “sore.” So, there’s that.) (Update, Jan. 25, 12:02 p.m. ET: Patriots flack now says Pat wasn’t hospitalized but did suffer a “painful attack.”) Via ESPN’s Michael DiRocco:

“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 we were out here just having fun and it wasn’t nothing intentionally to try to hurt the guy.”

Adams didn’t sound as sorry in an interview with ESPN’s Dianna Russini, though:

It’d be hard for the Patriots to get proper retribution, since the Jets don’t have an official mascot, and they wouldn’t be offended if someone tossed Fireman Ed into a trash can and rolled him down a hill.