NFL fans were outraged Thursday night when Lions safety Kerby Joseph lunged at the Packers’ Tucker Kraft and nearly hit him in the knee.
Kraft was running the ball after a catch in the third quarter when Joseph lunged helmet-first toward the tight end.
The Green Bay player managed to get out of the way before being tackled by a pair of Joseph’s teammates, but fans were quick to criticize the “dirty” defensive back, who had earlier taken some controversial cheap shots.
‘Kerby Joseph continues to do this garbage. Head down, aiming for the knees. Doesn’t belong in the league,” wrote one fan in the X under a video of the incident.
“This hit lands, possibly keeping Kraft out for a year, and maybe more. “Wake up @NFL, this guy is looking for knees,” said another.
“That damn dirty pigeon dove headfirst into my brother’s knees,” a third fan added.
Kerby Joseph dove headfirst into Tucker Kraft’s knee Thursday night.
Fans called for defensive back Joseph to be punished for his ‘dirty’ hit attempt on Kraft
And a fourth said: “(Kerby) Joseph knows he can’t tackle fairly so his only move is to try and ruin the careers of good players.”
Last season, Joseph had two season-ending hits, as Low tackles to the knees of TJ Hockenson. and Tyler Higbee caused both tight ends to tear their ACLs.
Kraft referenced those tackles earlier this week, before the Packers’ eventual 34-31 loss on Thursday.
“He’s a good DB,” Kraft said, via Green Bay Packers at SI. You may not agree with some of the places you like to network with. It has taken some of my brothers out of the game and I think about that too. “I have the opportunity to have it in my hands playing football.”
And the pair got into an altercation before the game, when both teams returned to the locker room after pregame warmups.
images of Amazon Prime Video shows the pair exchanging a few words, while Kraft said after the game that Joseph had instigated the incident.
Kerby Joseph and Tucker Kraft could be seen exchanging words before Thursday’s game.
“He was waiting for me to go into the tunnel and he had some words for me,” Kraft said.
‘So, I just let him know that he’s not going to do anything to me. I don’t think I did. Yeah. I talked about that shit earlier in the week and I stood my ground. “I didn’t mean for it to go that far, but when it did, I stood my ground.”
Meanwhile, Joseph deflected a question about Kraft and pretended not to know who he was.
“Are you talking about Kraft macaroni and cheese?” ‘I don’t know who that boy is,’ said Joseph.’
Despite the loss, Kraft had 41 yards and a touchdown, bringing him to 521 yards and seven scores on the season.