The Green Bay Packers are 9-4 on the season following their 34-31 loss to the Detroit Lions on Thursday night. The contest was a hard-fought affair between two teams that are clearly among the best in the NFC.
While there were questionable calls by the officials that many Packers fans point to as reasons that they lost the game, the fact of the matter is that, once again, Green Bay made too many self-inflicted mistakes.
The game certainly had plenty of juice as it was abundantly clear that the two teams do not like each other. Prior to kickoff, there was plenty of talk from both sides about the other, especially from tight end Tucker Kraft.
Green Bay Packers Tight End Tucker Kraft Does Not Like Detroit Lions Cornerback Kerby Joseph
Prior to the game, Kraft was asked about Lions defensive back Kerby Joseph, a controversial player who has caused multiple torn ACL’s due to his low hits at his opponents’ knees. He responded, “He can flip games. He’s a good DB.”
“I might not agree with some of the places he likes to lay contact. He’s taken some of my brothers out of the game, and I think about that, too. So if I get a chance to get my hands on him, you know, playing football.”
It certainly looked like Joseph tried to hurt Kraft pretty severely on this play during the game, too:
Kraft realized Kerby Joseph has a tendency to hunt knees and punked him. Also nailed the landing pic.twitter.com/d3EtbMPrvr
— Thomas Sullivan (@Yfz84) December 6, 2024
Of course, after the Lions won, Joseph had some things to say about Kraft, too:
“You talking about mac ‘n cheese Kraft? don’t know who that boy is. To be honest, people just talk crazy on the internet. When they see me, they ain’t doing none of that.”
As mentioned, it is clear the two teams do not like each other, and this war of words between Kraft and Joseph are evidence of that.
However, it sounds like the war is over.
Green Bay Packers Tight End Tucker Kraft Is “Dropping It”
After practice on Monday, Kraft was asked about his newfound rivalry with Joseph. The second-year tight end, though, was not going to add any more fuel to that fire.
“I’m going to drop it, actually. It’s over. It’s done,” Kraft said according to Matt Schneidman. “Just going to move on from that. Not going to stoop down there anymore. I’m not going to talk about my opponents anymore. I’m just going to talk about us because the only thing that matters is the guys in this locker room.”
While nothing was stated to suggest this, it sounds like Matt LaFleur may have had a talk with his players about providing opponents with bulletin board material.
In any case, Kraft and the Packers have a different opponent to focus on with a matchup with the Seattle Seahawks coming up.