Lions safety Brian Branch finally talked about his penalty and ejection, and offered an apology for the double birds.
Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch was ejected from last Sunday’s game after delivering a helmet-to-helmet hit on Green Bay Packers receiver Bo Melton in the second quarter. The play initially just received a flag for unnecessary roughness, but after consulting with the officiating hub in New York, the league deemed Branch’s hit was blatant enough to warrant an ejection.
“We reviewed all the angles, and we clearly felt that he had time and space to make a different choice, as the act was a flagrant foul,” NFL senior vice president of officiating Perry Fewell said after the game. “And he clearly had the opportunity to avoid the head and neck area.”
On Wednesday, Branch offered his thoughts on the play, essentially agreeing with the call—although it’s unclear if he’s also endorsing the ejection.
“I most definitely agree with the call,” Branch said. “I feel like my target was obviously high, but that was never my intentions to aim for the head. But moving forward, I do have to move my target down.”
Branch also received a little support from his coaching staff. Defensive assistant Jim O’Neil—who primarily works with the safeties—said that that play was particularly difficult for Branch because Melton is turning his head as the Lions safety approached him.
“The easy answer is, ‘Hey, lower your target,’ but when you’re running full speed and another guy is running full speed and all of a sudden his weight drops and the angle changes, that’s hard,” O’Neil said. “Because you don’t want to tell guys all of a sudden, ‘Hey, now go through their knees.’ So, we’re trying to lower their target into the sternum, but it’s a bang-bang play. It’s hard. I don’t think he had malicious intent at all. What happened, happened. But that’s how we coach it.”
After the ejection, Branch was clearly frustrated and gave middle fingers to the entire Lambeau crowd, resulting in another personal foul penalty. Now a few days removed from that, Branch was clearly regretful for how he reacted in the moment.
“I don’t want […] people to notice me as that,” Branch said. “I feel like that was just a heat of the moment for me. And I apologize to everyone that seen that. That won’t happen again.”
