Brian Branch, JuJu Smith-Schuster give inside story on how Lions, Chiefs sparked skirmish

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It was over…and then it wasn’t.

Brian Branch threw a strike at JuJu Smith-Schuster that sparked a melee at the end of the Sunday night game at Arrowhead Stadium – and it was no way to score retribution.

Branch, the Detroit Lions safety, wanted payback after he felt the Kansas City Chiefs receiver blasted him with an illegal block in the back that went uncalled. He connected with a blow that landed under the facemask and left Smith-Shuster bleeding from a gash on his nose.

“I did a little childish thing,” Branch told USA TODAY Sports after the Chiefs snapped Detroit’s four-game winning streak with a 30-17 decision. “But I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the plays and the ref don’t catch it, trying to bully me out there.

“But I should’ve never did it. It was childish.”