Brian Branch likely has a fine coming his way for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Packers receiver Bo Melton that resulted in Branch's ejection from the Lions' win in Green Bay last week. It will be the second such fine he's received this season and the fourth of his young career.
If Branch picks up a reputation as a dirty player, it could color the way officials interpret his actions moving forward.
"I don’t worry about that," Dan Campbell said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "I don’t know why he would pick that up. He plays football, he’s a football player, he plays the style that we’re looking for. He’s gotta lower that target, that’s the thing. And he knows that."
The officials on the field for Branch's hit last week flagged him 15 yards for unnecessary roughness, which was warranted given the principal point of contact. He was ejected after the NFL's replay review officials in New York deemed the hit "flagrant" because, in the words of senior VP of officiating Perry Fewell, "he clearly had the opportunity to avoid the head and neck area.”
In defense of Branch, did he really have enough time to make that split-second decision, while running full speed toward his target?
"And honestly," said Campbell, "look, you’re gonna get the flag, he’s probably gonna get fined for it -- that’s part of it -- and you don’t want it, but once you’ve deployed your artillery, man, you’re not pulling it back. Funny enough, I’ve seen guys who have tried to pull back to keep from hurting somebody that have, two different times, torn the meniscus in their knee, trying to jab their knee in the ground to stop from going."
Branch was fined earlier this season for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Cardinals TE Trey McBride that sent both players to concussion protocol, the same game in which he incurred a fine on a separate play for striking/kneeing/kicking. He was also also fined twice last season for helmet-to-helmet blows, in Week 15 on Broncos TE Adam Trautman and in Week 3 on Falcons RB Bijan Robinson.
What most bothered Campbell about last week's incident is that Branch lost his cool after the ejection, mouthed off to the officials and then flipped off the crowd, which invited an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and cost his team an additional 15 yards.
"The big thing, man, is the penalty after that," Campbell said. "That’s what he and I talked about, like, ‘Man, you can’t give them the 15 after that.’ So, just lower (the target) and go through the sternum. He was just a little bit high. But he’ll be fine, man. He plays an aggressive style, he’s a hell of a player, he’s a hell of safety and no, he’s not a dirty player."