Matthew Stafford said it loud and clear to Kerby Joseph after the controversial low hit that left the Rams’ Tyler Higbee with a torn ACL and MCL.
Joseph, 23, dove into Higbee’s legs, bending the tight end’s right knee awkwardly as he attempted to catch a pass over the middle from Stafford, 35, in the fourth quarter of the Rams’ 24-23 playoff loss on Sunday in Detroit.
“Hey! That’s a good hit. That’s a good hit. You dirty as f–k though and you know it,” Stafford could be heard saying in an on-field, mic’d up video after Joseph celebrated the play. “You dirty as f–k. It’s been on tape. I’ve seen it. It’s been on tape.”
The “tape” Stafford could be referring to is a nearly identical hit on Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson on Christmas Eve that led to him also tearing his ACL.
Joseph was not called for a flag on the play in the wild card round, and though it initially looked like his head made contact with Higbee’s knee, it was his shoulders and back that did.
He defended his actions on X after the game.
“ALL SERIOUSNESS…. THIS GAME WE PLAY IS VERY DANGEROUS…. I’m praying for bro and his family I don’t have no intention to hurt no body and or harm their career I been a mf dog since I came out my mama womb and nun of y’all on here gone take that away from me,” Joseph wrote.
The Lions, who won their first playoff game in 32 years, came to Joseph’s defense.
Fellow safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson even put the onus on Stafford for why the injury occurred.
“If anybody on the Rams feel like it was dirty, well tell his quarterback don’t put the ball in a place where he gets his player hurt,” Gardner-Johnson told reporters after the game. “You hear [Tom] Brady say it all the time.
“Man, Kerby’s a ballplayer. Kerby’s been doing it since he’s been here, before I got here, and like I said, if the quarterback don’t want any players to get hurt or messed up, don’t put it where our safeties are going to make a play.”
Lions coach Dan Campbell, when asked about accusations that Joseph is a dirty player, immediately backed his safety.
“That’s how we play football here; just keep your head up, see what you hit,” Campbell said during his Wednesday press conference. “That will always be what I tell Kerby. Just keep your eyes up so you don’t hit on the crown of your helmet. … 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.”
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the 31-year-old Higbee “faces a challenge to be ready for the start of next season.”
