Detroit Lions coach on Brian Branch: ‘What he did was inexcusable’

The Detroit Lions-Kansas City Chiefs game on Sunday night ended with a skirmish on the middle of the field with players pushing and shoving – and a least one fight.

The incident seemed to stem from Lions safety Brian Branch ignoring the handshake attempt of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes after Kansas City’s 30-17 victory.

Kansas City wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster appeared to say something to Branch about his action, and the Detroit defensive back responded by hitting Smith-Schuster in the helmet, sparking an altercation that brought players running.

“I love Brian Branch, but what he did was inexcusable,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “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 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.”

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Last season, Branch was the player fined the most times by the NFL for on-the-field transgressions. The NFL fined the former Alabama standout seven times for $70,896.

“They can do all the extracurricular stuff they want to do,” Mahomes said on NBC’s telecast of the game, “but we play the game between the whistles, and we thought we played a great game today.”