Buccaneers must be wary of Detroit's Kerby Joseph on Sunday

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the last ACL torn by Joseph with a low hit.  Last weekend against the Los Angeles Rams Joseph went low again against Rams TE Tyler Higbee, whose knee bent in the wrong direction.  Sure enough, Higbee was also diagnosed with a torn ACL the following day.  

Joseph has drawn a lot of criticism for his recent string of injury-causing hits.  However, if you think that's going to change, think again.  Joseph has the support of his head coach Dan Campbell, who says what has been happening is how Joseph and the rest of the Lions defense are coached to play. 

"That's how we play football here.  Just keep your head up, see what you hit," Campbell said. "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 hit 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.  We're not dirty.  It's just, you know, we hit."

The problem is that Joseph's head was down when he hit Higbee.  He wasn't looking at all where he was hitting Higbee.  And if Campbell means the thigh board, surely he doesn't mean where the knee and the thigh meet.  Or hopefully not, at least.  

Regardless, it's apparent that neither Joseph nor Campbell are going to change anything they've been doing on Sunday afternoon against the Buccaneers.  As such, the Bucs' pass catchers - especially tight end Cade Otton - had better have their heads on a swivel when they catch a pass downfield.