Dan Campbell was none too pleased with Brian Branch after the star safety for the Lions lost his cool and took a shot at Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster after Detroit's loss to Kansas City Sunday night, prompting a fracas on the field between players from both teams.
Branch smacked Smith-Schuster in the face mask after Smith-Schuster appeared to say something to Branch when Branch declined to slap hands with Patrick Mahomes as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Smith-Schuster said the shot left him bloodied. Branch said it stemmed from an illegal block that he took from Smith-Schuster shortly beforehand that went uncalled by the officials.
"Let me start with this: love Brian Branch but what he did is inexcusable and it’s not going to be accepted," Campbell said after the Lions' 30-17 loss. "It’s not what we do, it’s not what we’re about. I apologize to Coach (Andy) Reid and the Chiefs and Schuster. That’s not OK. That’s not what we do here and it’s not going to be OK. He knows it, our team knows it. That’s not what we do."
Branch owned up to it after the game, telling reporters in Kansas City, "I did a little childish thing."
"But I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the play and refs don’t catch it," he said. "They be trying to bully me out there and – I shouldn’t have done it. It was childish." Asked what exactly the Chiefs were doing to him, Branch said he "got blocked in the back illegally" late in the game by Smith-Schuster.
"It was in front of the ref," Branch said. "The ref didn’t do anything and just stuff like that. I could have got hurt off of that -- but still, I still shouldn’t have done that."
Branch could be facing a hefty fine from the NFL, or even a suspension as a repeat offender, which is likely why Campbell was so bothered about the play after the game. Branch has already been fined 13 times in his young career, including three times this year: a facemark and taunting in the Lions' Week 1 loss and a low block in their Week 3 win.