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Castaway Seahawks' loss is Ravens' gain with Pro Bowl DT Adams
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) -- Take that, Seattle Seahawks. Sam Adams is going to be laughing all the way to Hawaii -- if not in Tampa Bay a week earlier. The Seahawks turned their back on Adams when he became an unrestricted free agent after the 1999 season. Shunned by virtually everyone else, Adams finally signed with the Baltimore Ravens in April. "Teams weren't biting, for whatever reason. I was there when Baltimore needed someone, they picked me up, and the rest is history," he said. NFL history, that is. Adams became the 330-pound centerpiece of an unyielding defensive line, recording a career-high 69 tackles and forcing five fumbles for a unit that set records for fewest points (165) and rushing yards (970) allowed in a 16-game season. As a result, the Ravens are in the playoffs, and next month Adams will head to Honolulu to play in his first Pro Bowl. As for the Seahawks, they finished 6-10, much to Adams' delight. "The people I had around me did not respect me and were not appreciative," he said. "Here, we don't have people arguing. ... This is a winning organization from top to bottom. I haven't been around that before this year." Adams has settled in nicely with the Ravens, but during the summer he was sporting a surly attitude after some local newspapers started writing about his weight. He stopped talking to the media until the season was well underway. "When I came here it was, `He's too fat. He's out of shape. He's this, he's that.' Well, I'm going to the Pro Bowl. There you go," he said. But first things first. Adams and the Ravens, who face the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, are looking to spend the last week of January in Tampa Bay, preparing for the Super Bowl. For Adams, that would be the ultimate last laugh. "When you leave a team, you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder and go, `I want to prove them wrong,'" Ravens head coach Brian Billick said. "To go out and have a Pro Bowl season, and if we have a championship season, he's going to take a lot of gratification from that." Adams was a perfect fit for the Ravens, who signed him at a time when tackle Larry Webster was serving a suspension and tackle Tony Siragusa was holding out for a better contract. Even though Siragusa ended his holdout and Webster is back, Adams remains a key figure in the middle of the line. "His takeoff on the ball is tremendous," Webster said. "He's one of those big guys who also has quickness and strength." Adams' forte is clogging the middle on the run, but he also had two sacks, and last week batted away two passes in Baltimore's 21-3 wild-card win against Denver. "I'm going to be around the quarterback, but I'm not going to get a lot of sacks because of the scheme we run. It's not meant for tackles to get sacks," he said. "A lot of times, I'm double-teamed, but the good thing about this line -- and the reason I'm going to the Pro Bowl -- is because when one person gets all the attention, someone else will make you pay." That would be Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who credits Adams and Siragusa for helping him win the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award. "Those guys are my bread and butter," Lewis said. "They give up their bodies so I can run free and make more plays."
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