As the Lions prepare for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Divisional Round from Ford Field on Sunday, people are still talking about Kerby Joseph’s hit on Rams TE Tyler Higbee last Sunday night. It was a hit that resulted in a torn ACL for the veteran tight end, and very similar to the hit that Joseph laid on T.J. Hockenson resulting in the same injury.
Despite the criticism being thrown Kerby’s way, Dan Campbell came to his defensive back’s defense saying, “That’s how we play football here. Just keep your head up, see what you hit. That’ll always be what I tell Kerby. … He’s going for the thigh board and staying away from the head. That’s how we play defense here. It’s not dirty. We hit.”
It’s always tough to see players getting injured, especially when it’s an ACL injury or any other type of injury for that matter. The issue here with Hockenson and Higbee’s injury is that it wasn’t caused by Kerby Joseph being a “dirty player”. It’s a hit that has been essentially cultivated by the modern NFL rulebook.
The NFL has made it very difficult for defending players to go high on opponents and for good reason. Concussions can not only end your career they can either shorten or end your life. Not to mention everything that has come out regarding CTE and the litigation towards the league, the NFL really had no choice but to take high hits much more seriously.
So what’s left for the defender? You can try for the middle and get bounced off or cut your opponent down at the leg which is what Joseph opted for and what Campbell is preaching. It sucks in Higbee’s case but if you’re the NFL you can’t tell a player they can’t go high then all of a sudden tell them they can’t go low. It is still football. It is still a sport that’s incredibly violent. Not to mention the play itself is probably one that offensive coordinators and quarterbacks are going to have to take a much closer look at if they want to avoid putting their receivers in positions that will result in torn ACLs.
