Adams Earned Ramsey’s Respect in Limited Snaps

On Kevin Hart's "Straight from the Hart" show on SiriusXM, Jalen Ramsey was asked if any receiver gave him trouble this season.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – They didn’t square off often, but Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey saw enough from Davante Adams to know that the Green Bay Packers’ star receiver is as good as it gets in the NFL.

Ramsey joined comedian and actor Kevin Hart on his SiriusXM show Straight from the Hart. Asked by Hart if any receiver gave Ramsey trouble this season, the All-Pro cornerback said:

“This season? No, nobody gave me no problem. … In the playoffs, I played Davante Adams when we played Green Bay, and we was chirping a little bit before the game. We got a lot of respect for each other, and we wanted the matchup and the people wanted the matchup, like mano a mano, man to man. And we may have got to match up like five times in the game. That just wasn’t the game plan for Green Bay’s offense and it wasn’t in our defensive scheme for me to run with him everywhere he was motioning. …

“But I could tell just in those short five times where I got to match up with him, I could tell he was like that. I could tell he was like that and he was probably going to make some plays on me, and I would make some plays on him. Like, not a problem, but I could tell he like that for real. He’s at the same level as those other guys like D-Hop (DeAndre Hopkins) and D.K. (Metcalf) and Stephon Diggs and Tyreek (Hill) and all of them. He at that level. I knew that for sure just those few times I matched up against him.”

Before the matchup, a longtime NFL defensive backs coach equated the individual battle to a championship fight.

“These two guys battling at this level? Shoot. With that quarterback? Woo. And with that defense? This is heavyweight stuff,” he said.

True to that theme, there was some pregame bluster between the two combatants. During warmups, Adams had to be escorted by an official back to the Packers’ side of midfield after a verbal exchange with Ramsey.

“I saw him over there with a camera and he was looking at me, so I just went over to holler at him real quick,” Adams said as part of the accompanying video, “and remind him that I’m not—and it wasn’t in a disrespectful way because I respect him as a player – I just said, ‘Look, I’m not some of the dudes that you’ve covered. So, I just want you to come with me and follow me everywhere and let’s give the people what they came here for.’ And by the time I said that, it was literally like police and ambulances and (stuff) coming out on the field and trying to break up something that wasn’t really that crazy like that.”

Adams caught 9-of-10 passes for 66 yards and one touchdown in Green Bay’s 32-18 victory. Most of the damage was done against other members of the Rams’ secondary, though Adams outflanked Ramsey for Green Bay’s first touchdown.