The hits keep on coming for Brian Branch.
He was routinely in the spotlight on ‘Sunday Night Football’ in Week 6, but for all the wrong reasons. The Detroit Lions safety is now set to serve a one-game suspension for striking the Kansas City Chiefs’ JuJu Smith-Schuster following last week’s game.
NFL Films added some more fuel to the fire in the days that followed. They posted a promotional video for their show, “Turning Point,” which singled out Branch’s mistakes against the Chiefs. Narrated by ESPN’s Louis Riddick, the video seemingly implied that there was some in-game motivation for the safety’s actions in the aftermath.
It’s not common for NFL Films to frame a video in that way – highlighting one player’s lowlights. The NFL deleted the post and later released a statement on X, explaining their decision to remove the clip.
“NFL Films wants all of its shows to have a distinct voice and point of view,’ it read. ‘In the case of ‘NFL Turning Point,’ that voice and point of view is Louis Riddick’s. He spends time every week with the show’s producers watching each segment and going over the script before narrating them. That particular sequence felt different to NFL Films as part of a 9-minute breakdown of the Lions-Chiefs game than it did as a standalone excerpt on social media. On X, it felt overly critical to Brian Branch so it was taken down.”
Branch’s teammates were certainly no fan of the video.
“I thought that video was crazy,’ Amon-Ra St. Brown said, via ESPN’s Eric Woodyard. ‘I don’t know why it was released, the reasoning behind it.’
‘Hey @NFLFilms y’all wanna post a bunch of BS and then won’t stand on business? Dan Skipper posted on X. ‘Feel free to go into a deeper dive in some of the other storylines. #soft’
Branch, known for his physicality, is no stranger to discipline from the league. The safety has already been fined three times this season and now added a suspension on top of it.
With a big ‘Monday Night Football’ matchup looming against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Branch will be a notable absence. This is how we got to this point.
Brian Branch suspension
Branch was suspended for one game after starting a fight following the Lions’ Week 6 loss in Kansas City. His appeal of the league’s suspension was denied, meaning he’ll serve it on Monday night in Week 7.
It all started as Branch took exception to an illegal block in the back from Smith-Schuster that went uncalled. He then took aim at Smith-Schuster’s face as others exchanged postgame pleasantries. The receiver was bleeding from a gash on his nose after the incident.
While there appeared to be some in-game motivation for Branch’s actions, the situation boiled over after he appeared to snub a handshake from Patrick Mahomes.
Smith-Schuster appeared to take notice of the act, seemingly taunting the safety. Branch promptly charged, starting the brawl.
“I did a little childish thing,” Branch told USA TODAY Sports. “But I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the plays and the ref don’t catch it, trying to bully me out there.
“But I should’ve never did it. It was childish.”
In the heat of the moment, Branch made a regrettable decision. Now he’ll pay for it with a suspension and missed game check.
