The Detroit Lions will not have Brian Branch against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on “Monday Night Football” in Week 7, and that decision is final.
Branch received a one-game suspension for his actions after the Lions’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 6, when he delivered a blow to wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster while the two teams were exiting the field.
Branch defended himself in the aftermath in the Lions’ locker room.
However, the NFL did not see the altercation the same way as Branch, and the final word was handed down by a familiar face.
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“Hearing officer Jordy Nelson, jointly appointed by the NFL and the NFLPA, has upheld the one-game suspension of Detroit defensive back Brian Branch,” NFL Senior Vice President of Football & International Communications Michael Signora announced with a post on X on Wednesday.
Branch accused the Chiefs of taking cheap shots during the game that the referees either overlooked or simply did not see. Footage of Smith-Schuster blocking Branch in the back also made the rounds on social media. He also said he apologized to Smith-Schuster.
News of Nelson’s final decision quickly made the rounds on social media, with various insiders and reporters making note.
Nelson, a former wide receiver, spent 11 years in the NFL, 10 of which were with the Lions’ NFC North rivals the Green Bay Packers. He was a Pro Bowler in 2014, and he finished his playing career in 2018 with the then-Oakland Raiders.
Division rivalry aside, Branch was expected to have his suspension upheld, despite his protests.
Former NFL QB Robert Griffin III blamed Branch for the altercation.
“Brian Branch started the fight in the field,” Griffin said in a post on X after the game along with a video of the incident. “Brian Branch threw a punch and knocked JuJu Smith-Schuster down. Brian Branch should be suspended. THERE IS NO PLACE IN SPORTS FOR THAT.”
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However, teammate and Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold defended Branch and spoke to his character.
“After this happened, BB came in to the facility. We talked, and you could just see it, man. And you can see it all over his face, man. The dude really felt bad for what he did. And just looking at it like from the outside, looking in, and from a different perspective, what BB did was wrong. Absolutely,” Arnold said on the “Closed on Sundays” podcast on Wednesday.
“Us being professional athletes, having to hold ourselves to a higher standard, we got to carry ourselves with a certain class. But it’s also one of those things, too, where if you know BB as a person … BB is literally one of the nicest people you could ever meet. Bro the type of person who would give you the shirt off his back. I done seen it firsthand. He’s that type of person and just looking at it like how they trying to portray him as like a dirty player and things like that that ain’t him at all. But what they do have to understand when he put that helmet on and strap up, he a gladiator.”
