Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch is facing a one-game suspension for his postgame strike to Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, but the controversy around the attack lingered into the week.
After the league announced punishment for Branch this week, NFL Films published a video that highlighted his struggles against the Chiefs offense during the game. The video sparked some anger from Lions players, and now has prompted an apology from the host who narrated it.
Louis Riddick Apologizes to Lions
On Thursday, NFL Films published a video in its “Turning Point” series that focused on Branch and how he struggled against the Chiefs. It showed him being “burned” by tight end Travis Kelce and “showed up” by quarterback Patrick Mahomes on his rushing touchdown.
It also showed a block from behind that Smith-Schuster laid on Branch that the video called his “boiling point.” Branch said after the game that he had been upset at Smith-Schuster’s hit, which led him to the postgame attack.
Several Lions players had spoken out against the video, which was later deleted. Louis Riddick, who narrated the video, also shared an apology toward the team.
“The Detroit Lions organization is one that I have nothing but respect for. Ownership, Head Coach, General Manager, and players,” Riddick wrote. “Fast forward to this week, the ‘Turning Point’ episode that was voiced by me recently that covered the Chiefs/Lions game didn’t come across the way it should have. The intent is to collaboratively, as a group, document the events of (the) game. Good and bad. There is NEVER an intent to do a ‘hit piece’ on anyone or any team.”
Riddick added that despite the best intentions of the production team, the video ended up being too critical of Branch.
“That being said, I can see how the short clip that was posted could be taken as an attempt to cast the Lions or Brian Branch in a calculated, unfavorable manner,” Riddick wrote. “I don’t want to be a part of that. I will be sure to make certain that anything that has my name attached to it will never again leave room for it to be interpreted that way in the future.”
NFL Upholds Punishment
Branch had appealed his one-game suspension that the league announced early in the week, but the league denied the request. Jon Runyan, the NFL’s vice president of football operations, reiterated that the league believes his attack was a “non-football act.”
“Your aggressive, non-football act was entirely unwarranted, posed a serious risk of injury, and clearly violated the standards of conduct and sportsmanship expected of NFL players,” Runyan wrote, via The Associated Press.
The Lions must now face the 5-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers without one of their top safeties. The team has been hit with a series of injuries to their defense, with the secondary one of the hardest hit areas. The team already placed cornerbacks D.J. Reed and Khalil Dorsey on injured reserve, while fellow cornerback Terrion Arnold is expected to miss several weeks with his own injury.
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