It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt.

New York Jets safety Jamal Adams said he was only joking around when he made a flying tackle on the mascot of his AFC East rivals, the New England Patriots, during Wednesday's Pro Bowl Skills Challenge.

However, ESPN reported that the person inside the Pat Patriot costume had to be hospitalized Thursday morning.

"He was running around and everybody was booing him,” Adams told ESPN. “So I said, ‘You know what? Let me go tackle him.’ I didn’t hit him that hard, man. All jokes aside, I didn’t hit him that hard ... but they did tell me he’s in the hospital."

Adams posted video of the hit on his Twitter feed with the caption, "This one is for every Patriots hater out there!"

Adams said the NFL wasn't pleased with his behavior.

"At the end of the day, we were out here just having fun and it wasn’t nothing intentionally to try to hurt the guy," Adams told ESPN.

Was he being serious or just continuing the joke?

Either way, there was someone in the Pat Patriot costume -- looking none the worse for wear -- back at the Pro Bowl festivities on Thursday afternoon.

Follow Gardner on Twitter @SteveAGardner