Dan Campbell talked with Brian Branch on Monday before the star safety was served a one-game suspension for his shot at JuJu Smith-Schuster after the Lions' loss to the Chiefs last Sunday and said Branch will be smarter for the incident moving forward.
"He knows he can’t react that way, and he’ll be better for this," Campbell said Tuesday. "He’ll learn from it."
The forthcoming fine for Branch will be the 14th of his young career and his fourth this season. He has developed a reputation in the NFL as a player prone to outbursts. In the letter sent to Branch detailing his suspension, the league's VP of football operations Jon Runyan wrote: "Your aggressive, non-football act was entirely unwarranted, posed a serious risk of injury, and clearly violated the standards of conduct and sportsmanship expected of NFL players."
"Your conduct reflected poorly on the NFL and has no place in our game," said Runyan.
Branch smacked Smith-Schuster in the face mask, bloodying the receiver's nose, in response to something Smith-Schuster said to him when Branch chose not to slap hands with Patrick Mahomes after the final seconds ticked off the clock. Branch was also still hot about getting laid out by Smith-Schuster with what looked like an illegal block in the back that went uncalled in the fourth quarter.
Campbell has been on Branch about playing with more composure. Branch failed to heed the message in the Lions' season-opening loss at Lambeau, the same place where he was ejected from a game last year for a helmet-to-helmet hit and then flagged and fined again for flipping the double bird to the crowd on his way off the field. This year, he picked up an unsportsmanlike penalty and a fine for chucking the helmet of Packers tight end Tucker Kraft after an altercation on the first drive of the game, which led to a touchdown for Green Bay.
Branch's first 13 fines added up to about $130,000. The suspension will cost him a game check (1/18th of his salary this year), which amounts to $76,625.
"Look, this is one instance of something that happened, and it doesn’t matter what led to it," Campbell said. "We all know. It’s no different than you’re driving down the road and something happens on the highway, you can’t take your aggression out on somebody else. Can’t cross that line. Our players know that, Brian knows it. "Listen, he’s an outstanding young man, he really is. He’s got a big heart. He made a mistake, and he’ll learn from it."
Branch, turning 24 this month, is appealing the suspension in hopes of being able to play next Monday night against the 5-1 Buccaneers, but Campbell isn't expecting it to get overturned, "just because I don’t want to think that way."
"If it happens, that’s a bonus," he said. "Right now I’m assuming he’s out and he’s not going to win (the appeal)."
Branch's suspension comes at a bad time for the Lions, with Kerby Joseph possibly sideline next Monday as well due to a knee injury. The next men up at safety will be Thomas Harper, Loren Strickland and perhaps Rock Ya-Sin, who played corner in Detroit's loss to the Chiefs with D.J. Reed and Terrion Arnold out with injuries.
Mahomes threw for three touchdowns and ran for another against the Lions' depleted secondary. Now the Bucs come to town with a top-10 passing attack led by MVP candidate Baker Mayfield.
"We can play one safety and four linebackers for all I care," Campbell said. "We’ll figure it out. (Kelvin Sheppard) will have a good plan, we’ll talk about what we need to do, and we’ll be ready to play Tampa Bay."