Bucs' Carlton Davis ejected for targeting Saints' Jared Cook

Carlton Davis is in his second NFL season as a cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which is to say he should know better than to lead with his head when making a tackle.

So Davis will hear from the league after viciously hitting New Orleans tight end Jared Cook and getting himself ejected from the Week 5 contest.

Cook was defenseless when Davis launched himself at the 32-year-old veteran and landed on top of him.

Those are the types of hits the NFL has been trying to eliminate for a few years now. The league took the extreme, albeit necessary, step of suspending Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict for the season after a similar hit against Indianapolis tight end Jack Doyle.

The Bucs, meanwhile, were penalized with a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty which awarded the Saints a first down on what would’ve been a second-and-20. That gave New Orleans life for what became an eight-play, 75-yard drive. The result couldn’t have been any more poetic with Cook hauling in a 9-yard touchdown pass to give the Saints a 17-10 lead at halftime.

Tampa Bay play the second half of its 31-24 loss to the Saints without its leading tackler in Davis — who will also have to hold his breath as he waits for the NFL to take a second look at the hit.

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Blake Schuster is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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