The Green Bay Packers fell to 11-5 on the season with their 27-25 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday afternoon. Minnesota, at 14-2, now holds the top seed in the NFC and are in first place in the NFC North. They can win the division and secure the number one seed in the NFC if they defeat the Detroit Lions (13-2, and playing the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football) next week.
Packers tight end Tucker Kraft had two receptions for 53 yards in the game (he was targeted three times), but drew some criticism from Vikings fans on social media for a low block he made on Minnesota pass rusher Pat Jones II, which resulted in an injury.
This was the low hit from Tucker Kraft that hurt Pat Jones and went uncalled.
A bit odd, considering Harrison Smith was flagged for a low hit earlier in the half. pic.twitter.com/WseUSVLYV1
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) December 29, 2024
When asked about the play during his press conference on Monday, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was quick to defend his second-year tight end.
Green Bay Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur Defends Tucker Kraft
Kraft and low hits were a bit of a story a few weeks ago before the Packers played the Lions. The Packers tight end had called out Detroit defensive back Kerby Joseph, who is known for his low, illegal tackles that have resulted in multiple torn ACL’s for opposing players.
When asked about Kraft’s low block and the injury to Pat Jones, LaFleur was quick to defend his young star:
LIVE: Head Coach Matt LaFleur meets with the media 🎙️ https://t.co/M0sHYMXxBq
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) December 30, 2024
“It’s the same thing that their guys were doing to our defensive ends, OK?” LaFleur said. “It’s a cross-sift. It’s a totally legal play. You’ve got to defeat the block, and there’s a lot of different ways to do it. Cox (Packers defensive end Brenton Cox Jr.) got sawed off by (Vikings tight end) Johnny Mundt one time and they got somebody else.
“They did it to us twice in the game. What are we talking about? I get it. As a defensive player, they don’t like it. I think Troy’s (NFL executive VP of football operations Troy Vincent) already come out and said that he wants to eliminate low blocks around the league. But that is — it’s part of the game. So if you don’t want to get those types of blocks, you can’t be so out of control.”
LaFleur also was not shy about how he feels about Joseph and the Lions, though he would not identify him by name:
“You see that around the league all the time. Then we should eliminate all low hits below the knee, period. When receivers catch a ball and they’re going across the middle and a safety who I won’t name goes and saws their legs out, that happens. We should get rid of all that then if that’s the case.”
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