Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch explained what led to him delivering an open-handed punch to Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster that sparked a brawl between the two teams after the Week 6 game.
Brian Branch explains reason behind punch on JuJu Smith-Schuster that led to Lions-Chiefs fight originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
safety Brian Branch is, at the very least, going to be losing a lot of money this coming week.
That's because Branch as responsible for sparking a brawl between the Lions and following the latter's 30-17 Week 6 victory.
The scuffle started after Branch struck Smith-Schuster with an open-handed punch, which led to the Chiefs wideout retaliating and both teams getting into it after the final whistle.
After the game, Branch admitted he acted "childish" but noted he was frustrated over officials missing a block in the back on him near the end of the game.
“I did a little childish thing, but I'm tired of people doing stuff in between the play and refs don’t catch it. They be trying to bully me out there and I don’t – I shouldn’t have did it. It was childish," Branch said.
Smith-Schuster, who revealed he suffered a bloody nose as a result of the scuffle, took the high road when asked about Branch's cheap shot.
"I know he's a better player than that, a better person," Smith-Schuster said of Branch, per Jesse Newell of The Athletic. "He'll learn from his mistakes."
"Just doing my job," Smith-Schuster added after saying he believed Branch was mad over his blocking. "I played between the whistles, and after the game, he took advantage of what he did."
Lions head coach Dan Campbell made it very clear he doesn't stand for what Branch did and he went on to apologize to the Chiefs, and more specifically head coach Andy Reid and Smith-Schuster.
"I love Brian Branch, but what he did was inexcusable," Campbell said. "It's not going to be accepted here. It's not what we do. 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 is no stranger to getting fines from the NFL, as he's already received multiple this season.
He's going to get another, but it remains to be seen if he'll be hit with a suspension, also.
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