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The Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions battled for 60 minutes on Sunday night, but that battle continued on after the final whistle.
After the Chiefs closed out the game with their final kneel down of the night, Lions safety Brian Branch hit Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster with an open-handed punch, which led to both teams getting into a huge scuffle.
Smith-Schuster was jawing at Branch after he refused to shake Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes' hand and that's what led to Branch doing what he did.
After the game, Smith-Schuster took the high road when asked about Branch's inexcusable act.
"I know he's a better player than that, a better person," Smith-Schuster said of Branch, per Jesse Newell of The Athletic. "He'll learn from his mistakes."
Smith-Schuster went on to add that he believes Branch was upset at the Chiefs wideouts' blocks during the game.
"Just doing my job," Smith-Schuster added. "I played between the whistles, and after the game, he took advantage of what he did."
Branch admitted what he did was "childish," but also complained of "stuff in between the play" that the "refs don't catch."
“I did a little childish thing, but I'm tired of people doing stuff in between the play and refs don’t catch it. They be trying to bully me out there and I don’t – I shouldn’t have did it. It was childish," Branch said, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
Regardless of his reasoning, Branch is going to be facing a hefty fine from the NFL. While we don't think he'll get suspended, that could be on the table.
As for Smith-Schuster, he confirmed he walked away with a bloody nose from the incident.
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- Why Josh Simmons was ruled out for Chiefs vs. Lions
- Estimated return timelines for Lions' key injured players
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