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Brian Branch's helmet to helmet hit, hand gestures, ejection and his past could cause big problems for him and the Lions
A ridiculous moment happened with Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch in the first half of the Lions game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
Branch got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on what should have been an incomplete pass on third down. We won't dispute the call. It was a clear helmet to helmet hit and the flag was deserved.
What wasn't deserved is that the NFL, watching from New York, decided to eject Branch after the call. That was one that nobody could understand in the moment. The officials later said that they believed Branch could have done something different.
Here's why there should now be reasons to be concerned about what the league could do with Branch after this game and why it's not crazy to think a suspension could be coming for Branch. If not that, then definitely the biggest fine of his career.
Branch has been fined five times by the league since last year. You can definitely expect that this will be his sixth. When that comes down next Saturday, that will be his fourth fine for helmet to helmet contact alone. It'll be his his second of the season.
Branch was fined $10,128 for a helmet hit against the Cardinals earlier this year.
A suspension isn't guaranteed, but the NFL can clearly see a pattern of offenses here and with the decision to eject him, they're showing they don't mind going a step further. The other thing is he went full Stone Cold on the Packers bench and flipped them the double bird. The next step would be a suspension. If it happens it wouldn't likely be more than just one game.
Again, though, what you can guarantee is that there will be a fine and since the league fines you more and more every time you get fined, this is likely to be a very big one for Branch.
