SEATTLE -- Seconds seemed more like minutes as the ball -- and the game -- was up in the air.
"It felt like it was like a movie," cornerback Riq Woolen said. "Everything was just in slow motion. I was looking at the ball in the air and it was just falling so slow."
The cinematic moment came to a dramatic ending when safety Julian Love came down with the tipped-ball interception late in the fourth quarter Sunday to set up the decisive touchdown in the Seattle Seahawks' 24-20 win over the Cleveland Browns at Lumen Field.
"Oh my gosh," Love said. "That was in the air for forever. I was wondering initially how that got up there. That usually is not the rebound off of a hand."
That's because it bounced off of Jamal Adams' helmet.
Yes, the play that keyed the Seahawks' comeback win was partly a happy accident, partly the products of Adams' blitzing prowess and well-time pressure by defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt, to say nothing of Cleveland's questionable decision to throw the ball on third-and-3 instead of running it.
"I got that from Messi," Adams joked. "I was just coming on a blitz. Great call by Coach Hurtt and [head coach Pete Carroll], and obviously we had to make something happen. We needed the ball back, and seeing the guard kind of pull, I jumped as high as I could and luckily pulled it off, man, right off the head."
Adams confirmed that he wasn't actually trying to deflect the ball when he lowered the crown of his helmet while in midair, though it looked plenty intentional on the slow-motion replay, like a soccer player making a leaping header.
"He looked like prime Ronaldo right there," Love said, referring to another international soccer star.
Whether it was Messi or Ronaldo, and intentional or not, the head play was undisputedly the biggest moment of Adams' comeback from the torn quad tendon that cost him almost all of last season and the first three games of this one.
OUR BALL!
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 29, 2023
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It has been an eventful return.
Adams made it back for the Week 4 Monday night game against the New York Giants only to suffer a concussion on the ninth play, leading to a bizarre sideline incident in which he berated an unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant (UNC). His first full game back was highlighted by a few standout plays against the Cincinnati Bengals but also included another run-in with a UNC that resulted in a $50,000 fine by the NFL.
Adams had a quieter game last week against the Arizona Cardinals but played every snap, a significant step coming off such a devastating injury.
Then came his big moment Sunday.
The Seahawks were trailing 20-17 just ahead of the two-minute warning when Hurtt sent him on a blitz from the left slot. The B-gap was briefly wide open until right guard Wyatt Teller broke off a double-team block of Dre'Mont Jones and met Adams, who had leaped into PJ Walker's throwing lane.
Five plays later, Geno Smith capped an up-and-down performance by throwing a bubble screen to rookie receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who got a block from DK Metcalf en route to the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown.
"Man, this is what he lives for," Carroll said of Adams. "He lives for these opportunities, and to go for it when it was on the line, everything was right there, he came up with a way to figure it out and did something that changed our fortune in this game. It was fantastic."
Asked if he has ever had a ball bounce off his helmet like that, Adams mentioned the interception he dropped during a 2021 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was playing with a broken finger on his left hand at the time, but the play was nonetheless an illustration of how pass coverage is not his forte.
To maximize his strengths, the Seahawks are going heavy on three-safety looks that put Adams closer to the line of scrimmage, with Love and Quandre Diggs on the back end. That puts Adams in position to be a difference-maker against the run, but they've yet to unleash him as a blitzer.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, he had four pass-rush snaps against the Bengals and three apiece versus the Cardinals and Browns. By comparison, he averaged more than eight during his 9.5-sack season in 2020.
But he made his last one count Sunday.
"That play is all a credit to 'Mal," Love said. "The way he plays, the passion, the energy, the physicality. If he's not pressuring the way he is, that play never happens, and who knows what happens at the end of the game? That's Jamal Adams."
With the win, the Seahawks improved to 5-2 and moved into first place in the NFC West, a half-game ahead of the San Francisco 49ers (5-3) after they lost their third straight. That's despite Seattle suffering a season's worth of injuries over the first two months. Carroll was happy to report no new injuries Sunday, a welcome change.
"Halfway through, we're in pretty good shape," he said. "That's good. That's good. We're still growing. We got out of this game. I have no names for you as far as guys getting banged up, which is incredibly good. We just need to keep growing."
Adams (eight tackles, one for a loss) played 63 of 78 defensive snaps Sunday. Carroll said he wasn't hurt when he briefly left the game; the Seahawks were managing his playing time as he continues to work back to full strength, a process that might take a while.
Adams revealed upon his return that he was so down after tearing his quad tendon that he briefly considered retirement. That was before an arduous rehab process in which his left leg was in a straight cast for more than 20 weeks, costing him his independence. When he finally ditched the cast, he couldn't bend the knee on his own.
Adams was asked what his big play meant to him given all he's been through over the past 13 months.
"Just grateful, man," he said. "God is good. I want to do whatever I can just to help the team win, and that's what it's about. ... I'm not trying to make it about me or whatnot, but it's definitely been hard. Still a long process. Just got to continue to grind with it. But, man, I'm just grateful to be here, grateful to be with my teammates and grateful to get a win."