KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A long, frustrating night for the Detroit Lions inside Arrowhead Stadium ended with Brian Branch punching Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, sparking a brief scuffle between players from both teams.
That was about as much fight as the Lions showed all night.
They were dominated on both sides of the ball by a Kansas City team that is coming off an error-filled mess in Jacksonville and has no interest in falling two games below .500. Indeed, the Chiefs shut down Detroit’s prolific offense, holding it to less than half its season scoring average, and their own offense rampaged down the field en route to a 30-17 victory Sunday evening.
“We did pretty well,” Lions coach Dan Campbell admitted afterward.
It was then that the real fireworks took place.
As the Reds erupted above the stadium to celebrate the Chiefs’ victory, Patrick Mahomes attempted to greet Branch as they met near midfield. The Lions safety passed the Kansas City quarterback, and Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster took umbrage with the decision, approached Branch and had a few words with him.
Branch responded by throwing a right hook that knocked Smith-Schuster to the ground.
The veteran receiver stood up and tackled Branch, who was playing through an ankle injury that had kept him out of practice most of the week. Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco tried to get between them, but Branch managed to rip Smith-Schuster’s helmet off as dozens of players from both teams converged on the scrum.
“I did a little childish thing,” Branch said, “but I’m tired of people doing things between games and the referees not realizing it. They’re trying to intimidate me and I don’t – I shouldn’t have done it. It was childish.”
Eventually, coaches and players managed to separate the parties, and they finally left the field for the locker room. Branch could face another hefty fine — he received $23,186 for face masking and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against Green Bay last month — and perhaps even a suspension for his actions.
“I love Brian Branch,” Campbell said, “but what he did is inexcusable and it’s not going to be accepted here. That’s not what we do. That’s not what we do. I apologized to coach (Andy) Reid and the Chiefs, as well as Smith-Schuster. That’s not OK. That’s not what we do here. That’s not going to be OK. He knows that. Our team knows that. is not what we do. “
Smith-Schuster walked away with a bloody nose from the punch.
“The guy came and hit JuJu for no reason,” Reid said. “It’s tough. But pretty significant damage to JuJu’s nose.”
Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton was on the sideline and the tape was being cut when he spotted the scuffle.
“The most important thing for us is to make sure our guys are safe,” Bolton said. “Make sure our quarterback is good and our guys are taken care of.”
The loss ended a four-game winning streak for Detroit, which was trying to achieve a rare feat by winning back-to-back games at Arrowhead Stadium. Instead, the Lions allowed 355 total yards on offense, forced just one punt, and were unable to make the stops they needed late in the fourth quarter to give their offense a chance to come back.
Jared Goff finished with just 203 passing yards, although he threw touchdowns to Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta, while Amon-Ra St. Brown was held to 45 yards receiving. Jahmyr Gibbs needed 17 carries for 65 yards, and nine for 32 came on the game’s first drive, when Detroit marched down the field for what looked like a touchdown.
David Montgomery took a direct snap near the goal line and threw to Goff, who moved, caught the pass and then rushed into the end zone. But long after the game ended, the officials regrouped and ruled that Goff had never been fielded — even though no flag had been thrown at the flag — and that the illegal movement penalty had erased the touchdown.
After a delay of game penalty, the Lions had to settle for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.
It was just the start of a frustrating night for Campbell and his team.
“It doesn’t matter if I agree or disagree (with the penalty),” he said. “They said he never stopped. He kept moving. You can’t stay moving. But it had no impact on the game. We lost by 13 points.”
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