Here’s some free advice for Jets players not named Jamal Adams
ORCHARD PARK — Follow Jamal Adams.
This is the best advice anyone can give the rest of the Jets’ roster, as this season has devolved into garbage time with motivation becoming more and more difficult to manufacture.
Every Jets player should do what Adams does — which is lay his body and soul on the line in every game regardless of the team’s record, the game circumstance, the time of day or the temperature.
If the 3-9 Jets, losers of their past six games, are going to beat the Bills on Sunday and avenge the embarrassing 41-10 shellacking they took from Buffalo at home a month ago, they’re going to do it by doing as Adams does every week: Play like it’s the last game they’ll ever play.
Follow Jamal Adams.
The second-year safety, who during the week said this game is “personal’’ for him based on that lopsided loss to the Bills on Nov. 11, is and continues to be the heart and soul of this team — which, collectively, hasn’t shown enough of either this season.
“All gas, no brakes,’’ is the way linebacker Brandon Copeland described Adams to The Post this week.
“Even as a veteran, I look at the way he plays the game and I take notes on the way he’s literally pedal-to-the-metal all the time, no slowing down,’’ Copeland said. “He’s a physical player, always running in there, not afraid of contact. He’s in the right place at the right time and making plays. It’s great to see that from him so early in his career.’’
But Adams can do only so much. More players dressed in the same green-and-white uniform he wears must follow his lead.
“His energy elevates players,’’ Copeland said. “His passion for the game definitely helps elevate us. This last month, when there’s quote-unquote ‘less motivation,’ it’s a real gut-check time and a time when you look at the person you are as a human being and as a man.
“To be honest, I don’t want [Adams] to have to motivate guys to want to play. I want to play with guys and see guys play for the love of the game and for the guy next to him, put it all on the line.’’
Like Adams.
“One thing that I notice about Jamal is he is always active and fast-moving, he’s just always going somewhere,’’ rookie defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd told The Post. “He’s someone who I like to say moves with purpose. It’s really cool to see someone with an electrifying personality and intensity and how that character transfers onto the field.’’
Adams is in the conversation to be voted into the Pro Bowl — as he should be. He’s at the top of the league among safeties in tackles for loss with eight, passes defensed with 12 and forced fumbles with three. There are no official measurements for how hard he hits people, but that would be at the top of the league as well.
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Of course, Adams would like to have the honor of being named to the Pro Bowl, even if it would be a cherry on top of the pile of horse manure this season has been. But if you know him at all you know he’d trade any personal accolades in for more wins. The man looks physically ill in the locker room after losses. You don’t fake that.
“I’ve always been like that since I can remember … it’s just how I am,’’ Adams told The Post. “I don’t half-step with anything I put my mind to. I’m a competitive guy and I want to be the best and I strive for that. I strive for excellence every day. That’s just who I am as a person and how I’ll continue to be. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing, I always want to win at it and be the best at it.’’
Follow Jamal Adams.
“I just play the game the right way, man,’’ Adams said. “Everybody that’s on the football field should play the right way and fly around the ball. I take pride that. Any time I’m on the field I don’t waste opportunities. I’m playing as fast as I can.’’
If the Jets want to end this miserable six-game losing slide and deliver a blow to the Bills team that humiliated them in their home just a few weeks ago, the first thing they need to do it this:
Follow Jamal Adams.
