Making History, Seahawks S Jamal Adams Ready to 'Shatter' Sacks Record

SEATTLE, WA - Midway through the second quarter, Jamal Adams celebrated with teammates on his way to the sideline after Jets kicker Sergio Castillo missed a 41-yard field goal, which helped the Seahawks maintain a commanding 14-point lead in what eventually transformed into a 40-3 blowout.

What Adams wasn't certain of at the time was that during the midst of that previous possession, the star safety apparently had broken the single-season sacks record for defensive backs, increasing his total to 8.5 sacks in just nine games.

"I did not know," a surprised Adams said following a 40-3 victory. "That's the crazy part."

Entering Sunday's contest at Lumen Field, Adams' pursuit of the record, which had belonged to former Cardinals star Adrian Wilson since 2005, was one of the league's biggest story lines this week as he prepared to face his former team for the first time. Last season, he came up short with 6.5 sacks in 14 games and vowed he wouldn't fail again in 2020.

Given the magnitude of the record as well as the opponent on the opposite sideline, Adams already had planned out how he would celebrate once he brought down Jets quarterback Sam Darnold in the backfield. He had a certain vision for how it would play out once he finally surpassed Wilson's mark.

But to the disappointment of Adams, that's not exactly how things played out.

"I was gonna do the Warren Sapp dance, right? Just to break the record," Adams smiled, referencing the former Buccaneers Hall of Fame defensive tackle. "All I hear is Pete [Carroll] on the sideline when I chased Sam [Darnold] down going 'That's a sack! That's a sack! That's a sack!' and I'm like 'alright, next play.'"

On the play in question, Darnold, who was Adams' teammate in New York the past two seasons, escaped the pocket on 2nd and 10 and scrambled to his left. Rocketing out of his backpedal in coverage, the safety flew up towards the line of scrimmage looking to make a play and managed to get a hand on the quarterback before he stepped out of bounds for a one-yard loss.

Before Adams could catch wind up his accomplishment, the Jets picked up a first down on 3rd and 11 via penalty, extending the drive. Nine plays later, after driving down to the Seahawks 23-yard line, Castillo's kick sailed wide left and after he returned to bench, his historic feat was announced over the P.A. system.

"Not really my idea of how I wanted to break the record, but God is good man," Adams said.

Typically, as he told reporters in his post-game press conference, Carroll doesn't hand out game balls and has other methods for recognizing standout performances. But considering Adams altered the record books against the team that traded him to the Seahawks back in July, he decided to make a rare exception for the play-making safety.

Calling it a "cool" gesture from Carroll and once again praising the organization for their unwavering support, Adams indicated he planned to send the game ball back to his home in Dallas, Texas along with the jersey, pants, and cleats worn while registering the record-breaking sack.

"It's a pretty cool feeling when you put your mind to something because I told myself and I told everybody last year when I did fail with 6.5 sacks and I got hurt, I told everybody that I was going to break the record," Adams said. "Some people thought I was crazy, some people believed in me. But the only thing that mattered is that I believed in myself. I knew that I was going to break the record."

Following Sunday's milestone, Adams now has 20.5 career sacks in just 55 career games, which ties him with LeRoy Butler for the seventh-most by a defensive back since the NFL began officially counting the statistic in 1982. He's the only cornerback or safety to reach 20 or more sacks before turning 26 years old and the first ever to do it in under 100 games.

As for his new record? With Seattle's continuing to improve defensively each week and Adams continuing to become more and more comfortable with his new team, he won't be satisfied by simply passing Wilson's previous mark. As the team pushes for an NFC West title and possibly one of the top seeds for the postseason, he's hoping to obliterate it with three games remaining on the schedule.

"I'm excited. It really hasn't hit me yet that I broke the record, but really, I'm trying to shatter it to be real with you. This is just a start. It's not the finish. The marathon continues."