Missing a Pro Bowl defensive back, the Detroit Lions are preparing to play the team with the best record in the NFC on Monday night.
Unless an appeal changes his status, Lions safety Brian Branch will miss the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers while serving an NFL suspension. The NFL suspended the former Alabama defensive back for one game on Monday after he got in a fight after Detroit’s 30-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night.
“He’s an outstanding player for us,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said on Tuesday, “and so it’s no different than when you lose guys that you really depend on and have high production. You know, the next guy’s got to step up and serve a role for us, help us out, and then it’s got to spread throughout the rest of your team, man. Everybody else has got to pull a little bit more of that load between the corners and the linebackers and the D-line and offense and special teams. So we just got to help each other out.”
The incident that resulted in the suspension seemed to stem from Branch ignoring the handshake attempt of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes after the game. Kansas City wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster appeared to say something to Branch about his action, and the former Alabama defensive back responded by hitting Smith-Schuster in the helmet, sending the wide receiver to the turf and sparking an altercation that brought players running.
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After the game, Branch said Smith-Schuster had illegally blocked him in the back on Sunday night without incurring a penalty.
“I did a little, childish thing,” Branch said, “but I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the play, and refs don’t catch it. Like, they trying to bully me out there, and I should have never did it, but it was childish. …
“I got blocked in the back illegally, and it was in front of the ref. The ref didn’t do anything. And just stuff like that. I could have got hurt off of that, but I still shouldn’t have done that.”
Campbell said road rage was not the appropriate response by Branch.
“He knows he can’t react that way,” Campbell said, “and he’ll be better for this. So he’ll learn from it. …
“It doesn’t matter what led to it. We all know it’s no different than you’re driving down the road and something happens on the highway, right? You can’t take out your aggression on somebody else. Can’t cross that line. Our players know that. Brian knows it. He’s fine. He’ll learn from this and be better. Listen, he’s an outstanding young man. He really is. And he’s got a big heart, and he made a mistake, and he’ll learn from it.”
The 4-2 Lions play the 5-1 Buccaneers at 6 p.m. CDT Monday at Ford Field in Detroit. ABC and ESPN will televise the game.
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