Lions Brian Branch faces possible suspension for

Detroit defensive back Brian Branch thought he had been blocked in the back illegally without the officers calling a penalty during the Lions’ 30-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday evening.

So as soon as the sport ended, Branch took issues into his own arms — or, fairly, his own hand.

After the ultimate play, Branch approached the participant he later said was accountable for the unlawful block, Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, and hit him laborious on the left facet of his face masks with an open hand.

Smith-Schuster fell to a knee but immediately popped up and went after Branch. The two gamers scuffled briefly, with Smith-Schuster shedding his helmet and ending up back on the ground, as other gamers and coaches tried to intervene.

Talking to reporters after the sport, Branch apologized and took duty for his actions while also trying to clarify what had set him off.

“I did a little childish thing,” the third-year participant said. “But I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the play and refs don’t catch it. Like, they were trying to bully me out there and I don’t think — I shouldn’t have did it. It was childish.”

Asked to elaborate on what had occurred during the sport, Branch said: “I got blocked in the back illegally, and it was front of the ref. The ref didn’t do anything, and just stuff like that. And I could have got hurt off of that, but I still shouldn’t have done that.”

Branch said later in the interview that he ought to have taken out his frustrations within the foundations of the sport “between the whistles, not after the game, and I apologize for that.”

Branch was fined $23,186 earlier this season for face-masking and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties during a recreation against the Green Bay Packers. He might face another wonderful and probably a suspension for his actions Sunday evening, an NFL spokesperson told The Times. There is no timetable for a determination to be made on the matter.

The Chiefs offense and Lions protection have been on the sphere for the ultimate play. As soon as the ultimate whistle blew, Branch appeared to stroll proper past Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who had prolonged his hand for a postgame handshake, to confront Smith-Schuster.

“After the game, I was expecting to shake his hand and say, ‘Good game’ and move away, but he threw a punch,” Smith-Schuster told reporters in the locker room. “At the end of the day, it’s a team sport. We came out here, we did our job, we won, and that’s all that matters.”

Smith-Schuster was requested what might need led up to the incident.

“I mean, just me blocking him,” the ninth-year receiver said. “I mean, I’m just doing my job. I play between the whistles and after the game he just took advantage of what he did.”

Smith-Schuster reportedly acquired a bloody nostril from the hit. There have been no indicators of blood by the time he gave his postgame interview, but Smith-Schuster confirmed that he had been bleeding.

Detroit coach Dan Campbell — who famously declared during his introductory press convention in 2021 that his group would chew off opponents’ kneecaps — told reporters that Branch’s actions have been unacceptable.

“I love Brian Branch, but what he did is inexcusable and it’s not going to be accepted here,” Campbell said. “It’s not what we do. It’s not what we’re about. I apologized to Coach [Andy] Reid and the Chiefs, and Schuster. That’s not OK. That’s not what we do here. It’s not going to be OK. He knows it. Our team knows it. That’s not what we do.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.