From trash talk before the game to the big hit: Tucker Kraft’s unforgettable night against the Lions

DETROIT – Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft and Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph have added another layer to a burgeoning NFL feud.

This week Kraft praised Joseph as a player, but not for his style of play, as his habit of going deep during his short career hurt some players – That includes Packers receiver Romeo Doubs in 2022.

“He’s a good DB,” Kraft said this week. “Maybe I don’t agree with some of the places he likes to socialize. He took some of my brothers out of the game and I’m thinking about that too. I get the chance to get my hands on him while playing football.”

As the teams headed to their locker rooms after pregame, Kraft and Joseph got into a tense fight instigated by Joseph.

“He waited for me to go into the tunnel and had a few words for me,” Kraft said. “So I just told him. He won’t hurt me. I don’t think he did it. Yes. I said this crap earlier this week and stood by it. I didn’t want it to come to that, but when it did, I was into it. That was a tough game. They are a good team. We will see her again.”

Afterwards, Joseph acted as if he knew nothing about strength.

“Are you talking about the mac and cheese power? “I don’t know who this boy is,” Joseph said with a grin.

On the final play of the third quarter, Jordan Love found Kraft in the flat. Kraft pivoted upward and Joseph did what he did – he crouched low. Kraft prevailed against him and was knocked down by Jack Campbell and Terrion Arnold.

The crowd let out a collective “Ooh!”

Kraft got down to business in style with a “kip-up.”

What was Kraft thinking at that moment?

“Get my ass off,” he said. “No matter how hard you get hit, it depends on how quickly you get up. They can talk as much as they want. They can hit me as hard as they want, but they won’t stop me from getting up. I want the defense to know that. They can hit me as hard as they want; I’ll get up. I’m going to give it juice, especially after I make a play (for a) first down.”

Kraft finished the day with three catches for 41 yards and a touchdown. That wasn’t enough, however, as the Lions won the season series and sent the Packers into the wild card.

The Lions felt good afterward.

“They try to be competitive, but you can tell they’re not competitive. “We’re the real buddies,” cornerback Amik Robertson said. “When we go out there we are hunting, we are not the hunted. I really know her. Lots of pretenders.”

The drama began before the game when coach Matt LaFleur got involved with a fan.

“I’ve never been a part of anything like this,” LaFleur said. “He talked nonsense to our players and gave them the signal to cut his throat. You try to de-escalate it and then he gets in my face.

“I thought it was pretty unsportsmanlike. I’ve never seen that before. I’ve been to many fields and usually there is much better control there. I thought it was an arrogant fan who wanted to be part of the action. I would like to see security or something step in and get him out of there because he shouldn’t be doing that.”

Lions coach Dan Campbell improved to 6-2 against LaFleur, making his team the clear leader in the division. Even with an injury-riddled defense, his team had enough to beat the Packers.

“That’s sweet,” Campbell said. “I told the team, ‘This will be one of those you never forget.’ I told (Jared) Goff before the game, ‘Man, you’ve played all these games, you’ve had such a long career,’ and I’m sure there’s some that he probably has – you don’t remember everything “When you played as long as he did, but I said, ‘You’ll never forget this.’ You’ll never forget this game.”

“I think a lot of it is just what we had to overcome, the hand that we were dealt, and I just love the fact that our guys don’t make excuses, they just find a way. Everyone on this team believed we were going to win the game and we were going to find a way and we just did it again. We did it again. Guys did it.”

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