RENTON, Wash. -- Jamal Adams played 46 of the Seattle Seahawks' 54 defensive snaps in their 17-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals this past Sunday, by far the safety's most extensive action since he suffered a torn left quadriceps tendon in last season's opener.
Predictably, he was feeling it afterwards.
"He's really sore coming out of the game," coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday. "We kind of chuckled about it. It's a good sore, because that means he was out there and earned it. He's really excited to be coming back and playing again."
Indeed, after another major injury that led to brief thoughts of retirement and an arduous rehab, then a concussion and an ugly sideline incident that marred an abbreviated return, the bumps and bruises must have hurt so good.
And Adams, who wasn't listed on the Seahawks' injury report Wednesday, didn't just make it through his first full game in more than 13 months without issue. He quietly made an impact against Cincinnati, even if he didn't jump off the stat sheet with four solo tackles, one tackle for loss and a QB hit.
Adams' tackle for a loss came in the third quarter, when he dropped running back Trayveon Williams 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage on a third-and-12 checkdown. His best moment came in the first quarter, when he sniffed out a screen to Williams and split two offensive linemen to bring him down. The play gained 5 yards, but considering Adams was outnumbered in the open field, it could have gone for much more.
Former Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright, who earned the nickname Screenmaster during his decade in Seattle, called it a "beautiful play" in a breakdown on YouTube.
"It was a great play," Carroll said. "That's a play that guys with savvy and sense, they take their shot," Carroll said. "Instead of having to play off the blockers, he took it to the blockers and found a way to penetrate and get to the ball carrier. That's pretty characteristic of how he's played. That's the kind of player he is. It's great to see it happen in this game back and then he had the other great open-field tackle in the crucial third-down situation as well."
Adams came off the physically unable to perform list in late-August but missed the first three games while working off the rust. He made his debut in Week 4 against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football and played nine snaps before he took a knee to the helmet while tackling a scrambling Daniel Jones.
After being ruled out with a concussion, an irate Adams berated the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant who had examined him on the sideline before he was escorted into the locker room.
After ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the NFL was considering whether or not to discipline Adams over the incident -- it ultimately did not -- he issued a public apology. Carroll later said Adams deserved some slack because the outburst occurred while he was concussed and that he may not even remember what he said to the doctor in that moment.
"Obviously, that was a lot going on," Adams said postgame Sunday when asked about his last few weeks. "Obviously, I was just focused on the next week. I was excited to get back out there, and I knew I had an opportunity. We treat it like a championship opportunity every week. ... We don't make it bigger than what it is, but it was exciting to get back out there and play a full game, for sure."
Adams, who turned 28 on Tuesday, said it was "killing me" to be on a bit of a rep count against the Bengals but that he understood the reasoning. Defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt may take him off the field here and there when mixing personnel packages, but Carroll said he's now physically ready to play every down starting with Sunday's game (4:05 p.m. ET, Fox) against the Arizona Cardinals (1-5) at Lumen Field.
The next question is when Seattle will unleash him as a blitzer. Adams mostly played near the line of scrimmage in a pseudo linebacker role against the Giants and Bengals, with only 17 snaps aligned as a safety. That was an expected aspect of the Seahawks' plan to get him back to his 2020 form, when he set the single-season sack record for a defensive back with 9.5 during his Pro Bowl debut with Seattle.
But Adams only had three pass-rush snaps against Cincinnati (plus one against the Giants). By comparison, he averaged 8.25 in 12 games in 2020. With offenses paying more attention to him in 2021 and Seattle's defensive staff failing to find ways to get him to the quarterback, his blitz rate was cut in half.
When Hurtt took over for Ken Norton Jr. heading into the 2022 season, he and Carroll devised a plan to revive Adams as a pass-rusher, but they had to scuttle it when he went down in the first half of the opener.
With Adams finally back and their defense at full strength for the first time this season, the Seahawks held Joe Burrow and the Bengals to only 214 yards of offense, the fewest Seattle has allowed since late in the 2020 season. After a rocky start, they allowed three points over a span of eight possessions.
The vibe in the Seahawks' locker room postgame was more upbeat than after a typical loss, with the frustration over all the wasted scoring chances on offense outweighed by the optimism surrounding their resurgent defense -- which now has one of its best playmakers back in the fold.
Adams has missed so much time due to injury with Seattle -- 28 of a possible 55 regular-season games -- that any discussion about his potential impact has to include the "if he can stay healthy" qualifier. But the very early returns are encouraging.
"I think it meant a lot and I made a point about it in the team meetings [Monday], just to kind of congratulate him because he's been waiting to get back into action," Carroll said.
"Two weeks in a row he's playing, but this full game and he comes out in good shape and all that, that's an accomplishment. We recognized it and we're really excited for him and for us because he played well. We moved him around quite a bit and he handled all of that well, so now we're getting going and we'll start building on it."