Adams wants fine waved off
Jamal Adams is throwing a penalty flag on the NFL.
The New York Jets safety is appealing his fine from the league for a roughing-the-passer call against Cleveland, and said officials later acknowledged they had made a mistake.
“What’s funny is that after the game, those guys came to the coaching staff and apologized for that call,” Adams said Thursday. “But at the same time, those guys have a tough situation, in tough situations like that, as far as calling certain calls. It’s very tough for me to get mad at them because they have a tough job at hand too.”
The NFL doesn’t dole out fines or discipline players unless a play in question is deemed to be against the rules. Despite Adams’ claim the officials apologized, the league ultimately ruled the correct call was made to penalize him for the play.
Adams ranted on Twitter late Wednesday night, calling the NFL a joke for fining him $21,056 for his hit on Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield in the first quarter of New York’s 23-3 loss Monday night. He shoved Mayfield with his left forearm just after the Cleveland star threw a pass.
“It bothered me a lot, you know what I mean, because it’s kind of like, what do you want me to do?” Adams said. “It was legal. Next time, I might just tag him on the hip and say, ‘He’s it,’ and play tag with him. I don’t know what else you want me to do in that situation.”
In his Twitter post, he called the league “a damn joke” and was frustrated by the NFL’s “soft rules” that protect quarterbacks. On Thursday, Adams didn’t back down from those comments.
“Maybe we just need to put red [no-contact] jerseys on quarterbacks,” he said. “Just being honest.”
No Newton news
Carolina coach Ron Rivera wasn’t ready to name Kyle Allen his starting quarterback for the Panthers’ game at Arizona.
Nor was he eager to talk about Cam Newton’s foot injury.
Rivera said he would know more about the quarterback situation Friday before walking out of his news conference after about two minutes. The coach grew tired of questions about Newton, who sat out his third straight day of practice Thursday.
The ninth-year coach answered four questions about Newton before telling reporters he was done talking about the quarterback and preferred to talk about the Cardinals instead. When pressed on Newton again, Rivera calmly replied, “I’m not going to do this anymore. I told you I won’t know anymore until tomorrow. Golly,” and then walked to exit.
Brown stays quiet
New England Patriots receiver Antonio Brown declined to answer questions about allegations of sexual assault and rape against him and said he’s keeping his focus on football.
Brown answered only four questions Thursday in an interview that lasted just over a minute. It was his first interview with reporters since agreeing to a deal with the Patriots on Sept. 7.
He twice declined to answer questions about the civil case filed against him in South Florida by former trainer Britney Taylor, who claims Brown sexually assaulted her on three occasions, including rape, in 2017 and 2018. He also declined to say whether he’s heard from the league about the allegations. He has previously denied the allegations.