Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was mic’d during Sunday’s game. Thus, it caught him cursing at Kerby Joseph after the low hit the Lions safety used to bring down Rams tight end Tyler Higbee.
“Hey! That’s a good hit,” Stafford yells at Joseph. “That’s a good hit, but you’re dirty as f—k, and you know it. You’re dirty as f—k. It’s been on tape. I seen it. It’s been on tape.”
Higbee tore the anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his right knee on the hit.
Lions coach Dan Campbell threw his support behind Joseph, who also had a low hit that injured the knee of Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson.
“That’s how we play football here; just keep your head up; see what you hit,” Campbell said, via Justin Rogers of the Detroit News. “That will always be what I tell Kerby. Just keep your eyes up, so you don’t hit on the crown of your helmet. You [compress] your spine; you mess yourself up there. Just see what you hit. No, he’s going for the thigh board and staying away from the head. That’s how we play defense here. Not dirty. It’s just where we hit.”
The hit is legal, but the injuries to Hockenson and Higbee have low hits under scrutiny again.
Joseph defended himself on social media this week, writing, “I’m praying for bro and his family I don’t have no intention to hurt no body and or harm their career.”