The NFL has begun an investigation into the ugly brawl that left JuJu Smith-Schuster bleeding from the nose at the end of the Chiefs’ win over the Lions on Sunday night.
Kansas City secured a huge win over Detroit in primetime but Lions star Brian Branch didn’t appear to take the loss well, swinging for Smith-Schuster as he attempted to shake his hand at the end of the game.
The incident sparked a mass brawl between the two teams, and it has now been reported that the NFL has launched a probe to determine who was at fault.
In a post on X, NFL insider Adam Schefter wrote: ‘The skirmish between Lions safety Brian Branch and Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster after last night’s game will be reviewed and, in the words of an NFL official, “determinations on discipline made from there.”’
It appears Branch will almost certainly face disciplinary action for his part in the violence, after cameras appeared to show him sparking the melee.
After Branch struck Smith-Schuster in the face, the Chiefs man picked himself up from the ground, raced after Branch and pulled him to the ground, prompting players from both teams to then pile in.
The Chiefs wide receiver was then seen with blood streaming from his nose as he was pulled away from the brawl. He was later seen holding a towel to his face as he made his way to the locker room for treatment.
Chiefs quarterback Mahomes was dismissive of the incident when he was interviewed on the field once tempers had cooled down.
‘I mean, we play the game in between the whistles,’ Mahomes said, looking visibly unimpressed. ‘They can do all the extracurricular stuff they want to do. We will play the game in between the whistles.’
Mahomes found himself at the heart of the drama as players from both sides surrounded Branch and Smith-Schuster, with the Chiefs man desperately trying to hold his players back from getting involved.
Branch didn’t get any support from his Lions head coach, either. Speaking in his post-game press conference, Dan Campbell was quizzed about the incident and said: ‘I love Brian Branch but what he did is inexcusable and it’s not gonna be accepted here.
‘It’s not what we do and it’s not what we are about. I apologized to coach Reid and the Chiefs and Smith-Schuster. That’s not what we do. He knows it, our team knows it.’
Branch said he had been goaded by Smith-Schuster and complained that referees missed him getting hit from behind by the Chiefs man during the game.
‘I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the play and refs don’t catch it,’ Branch said. ‘They are trying to bully me out there. (I) Shouldn’t have done it. I got blocked in the back illegally, it was in front of the ref and the ref didn’t do anything.
‘Just stuff like that. I could have got hurt off the play. I still shouldn’t have done that. There was a lot of stuff but I shouldn’t have shown it and I apologize for that.’
Speaking in the locker room, Smith-Schuster insisted that he had no lingering ill-feeling towards Branch.
‘I know he’s a better player than that, a better person,’ the Chiefs man told reporters. ‘He’ll learn from his mistakes.’
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said that there was ‘pretty good damage’ on Smith-Schuster’s nose.
The Chiefs play AFC West rivals Las Vegas Raiders back at Arrowhead next Sunday afternoon. Smith-Schuster’s status will become clear over the coming days but there is a reinforcement coming in that wide receiver position, with Rashee Rice’s six-game suspension now over.
The Chiefs beat the Lions 30-17 on the night and there were suggestions late on Sunday night that Mahomes may have provoked Branch earlier in the game after scoring a touchdown in the second quarter.
Replays showed Mahomes spun around and turned back in the direction of Branch after reaching the end zone, but it wasn’t clear if he was specifically targeting the Lions defensive back.
