Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch said a play in which he was blindsided by Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster late in their Sunday Night Football matchup led to a postgame altercation in which he shoved Smith-Schuster in the face.
The initial incident took place with 3:26 remaining in the game Sunday (October 12) night as the Chiefs held a 10-point lead. Smith-Schuster landed a hard block from behind to Branch and stepped over him as Kansas City attempted to run out the clock.
After the game, Smith-Schuster appeared to try to shake hands with Branch, who instead shoved him in the face and knocked him to the ground, before players from both teams intervened.
“It was a childish thing, but I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the play and refs don’t catch it,” Branch told reporters via the New York Post. “They be trying to bully me out there. I should have never did it. It was childish.”
Branch is expected to face discipline from the NFL in relation to the postgame incident.
“I love Brian Branch, but what he did is inexcusable, and it’s not going to be accepted here,” said Lions head coach Dan Campbell during his news conference via the New York Post. “It’s not what we do. It’s not what we’re about, and I apologize to Coach [Andy] Reid and the Chiefs and [Smith-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 and so, that’s not what we do.”
The Chiefs defeated the Lions, 30-17, on Sunday night.