Things got chippy after the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Detroit Lions on Sunday night.
As time expired on the Chiefs’ 30-17 victory, Detroit’s Brian Branch walked toward Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and hit him in the head.
Things quickly escalated, and the two sides exchanged some shoves before finally going their separate ways.
Smith-Schuster was seen walking to the locker room with a towel over his nose after the altercation.
Before slapping Smith-Schuster, Branch brushed off a handshake with quarterback Patrick Mahomes. After the game, Mahomes said his teammates aren’t interested in keeping the battle going once the game ends.
“We play the game in between the whistles,” Mahomes said on the NBC broadcast. “They can do all the extracurricular stuff they want to do, but we play the game in between the whistles.”
Lions head coach Dan Campbell called Branch’s actions “inexcusable” and offered an apology to the Chiefs.
“I love Brian Branch, but what he did is inexcusable,” Campbell told reporters. “It’s not going to be accepted here. It’s not what we do, it’s not what we’re about. I apologize to Coach [Andy] Reid and the Chiefs and Smith-Schuster. That’s not okay, that’s not what we do here. It’s not going to be okay, he knows it, our team knows it.”
Things didn’t get too chippy between the Chiefs and Lions during the game, but it was a frustrating night for Detroit. Kansas City had one of its best performances of the season as Mahomes threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns, adding 32 rushing yards and a score on the ground.
It’s unclear whether Branch will face a fine or suspension, but Sunday wasn’t the first time the third-year safety has been involved in extracurriculars. Last season, he was ejected from a game against the Green Bay Packers for an illegal hit and was handed a fine for giving the crowd the middle finger on his way off the field. He was also fined for two separate hits against the Arizona Cardinals last year.
Branch, who earned his first Pro Bowl nod a season ago, has recorded 33 tackles and five passes defended through six games as the Lions have gone 4-2. Detroit will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week.
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