NEW YORK _ Jamal Adams revealed he was benched in Monday night's 23-3 loss to the Browns, and he's upset about it.
"Yeah, I was benched," the Jets' All-Pro safety said during an interview on WFAN Tuesday afternoon. "They benched me. I tried to anticipate a play, which I anticipated wrong and I was benched. It happens. I got to continue to do my job to the best of my ability as well as help lead the guys around me."
Adams had been called for back-to-back penalties _ offsides and encroachment _ and was removed by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams with 4:22 left in the game. Adams is a captain and revered by players and coaches. But he had no idea why he was taken out.
"I don't really know why or what was the reason," Adams said. "I made a penalty. They took me out. I'm not upset. Well, I am upset. I wanted to finish the game, and I didn't finish the game. It is what it is. I made a boneheaded mistake."
The Jets are in a bad place already at 0-2 and on their third starting quarterback because of illness to Sam Darnold and a season-ending ankle injury to Trevor Siemian. They don't want one of their best players and leaders disgruntled.
Adams, a third-year pro, said the Jets need "to stick together" during this adversity and gave no indication that he wants out. He said he still thinks he can win with the Jets.
"I believe so," Adams said. "I strongly believe so. It's a special place, a special atmosphere at MetlLife. We just got to get it together. We got to continue to keep pushing and keep striving. As long as we do that we'll be fine."
Adams wouldn't directly answer why he stopped following the Jets on his social media platforms Tuesday and whether he was sending a message to management. He said he's looking ahead to Sunday in New England.
"I'm focused on this game," Adams said. "I'm not focused on anything, the outside noise. I'm focused on how we can get better and grab a win ... It's social media at the end of the day. It's outside noise. I'm not focused on that."
Earlier Tuesday, on a conference call with reporters, Adam Gase said he thought it was the right move to take Adams out of a game that was essentially decided. The Jets were down 20.
"I'm sure at that point of the game he was extremely frustrated," Gase said. "When it gets like that and you want to go make a play and you want to have a positive impact play, the score's a little lopsided like that, you get a little overaggressive. Him coming out of the game was more kind of to settle him down ... I thought it was a smart idea as far as trying to do that and get him to settle down."
Adams apparently didn't agree.
