JuJu Smith-Schuster addressed his postgame fight with Lions’ Brian Branch

Sunday night’s primetime game ended with a fight that began between Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and Detroit Lions defensive back Brian Branch. The brawl left Smith-Schuster with a bloody nose, and the two players addressed the issue after the game.

“He’s a great player, and he’s huge for [their] team,” Smith-Schuster said of Branch. “After the game, I expected to shake his hand and say, ‘Good game.’ But he threw a punch.”

The fight began when Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes went over to shake Branch’s hand, but the defensive back ignored the gesture, instead just walking right past him and brushing it off. Smith-Schuster saw this interaction and wasn’t having it. He confronted Branch, appearing to have said something about this disrespectful act.

Branch came right over and took a shot at Smith-Schuster, shoving him in the face. Smith-Schuster then went after Branch, and from there, both teams got into it.

Fight breaks out at the end of the Chiefs vs Lions

Following his actions, Branch also took a moment to apologize, while also explaining why he did what he did.

“It was a childish thing, but I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the play and refs don’t catch it,” Branch said. “They be trying to bully me out there. I should have never did it. It was childish.”

“I got blocked in the back illegally. It was in front of the ref and the ref didn’t do anything,” he added. “And stuff like that. I could have got hurt off of that play. I still shouldn’t have done that

Smith-Schuster was asked about this play as well.

“I mean, me just blocking him,” he responded. “I’m just doing my job. I play between the whistles.”

Lions head coach Dan Campbell apologized on behalf of Brian Branch
Following the game, Detroit Lions head coach Campbell addressed Branch’s actions when speaking with reporters.

“I love Brian Branch,” Campbell said, “but what he did is inexcusable, and it’s not going to be accepted here. It’s not what we do. It’s not what we’re about. I apologized to Coach [Andy] Reid and the Chiefs, and Smith-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. That’s not what we do.”

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid also spoke briefly about it.

“The guy came up and hit JuJu for what looked like no reason,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. “That’s tough, and he did pretty good damage on JuJu’s nose.”