Brian Branch was ejected from Detroit’s 24-14 victory over Green Bay last weekend for helmet-to-helmet contact, offering a middle-finger salute to the jeering Lambeau Field crowd on his way off the historic field.
The star safety’s teammates have ensured that his explicit gesture lives on well beyond Week 9, printing T-shirts that feature a picture of Branch flipping off the Green Bay fans for the entire Lions roster.
“I feel like it shows everything that we’re about,” Branch’s safety partner Kirby Joseph told The Athletic’s Colton Pouncy while carrying the team’s order of shirts. “We don’t play no games.”
Kerby Joseph is handing out t-shirts with the photo of Brian Branch throwing up double birds lol pic.twitter.com/REvIQMGaGG
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) November 8, 2024
Branch’s controversial exit came during the second quarter of Detroit’s crucial NFC North matchup with Green Bay, coming down from his safety position to lay a crushing hit against Packers receiver Bo Melton along the right sideline. The second-year player was immediately flagged for a fairly blatant, 15-yard helmet-to-helmet penalty, but a video review triggered by the NFL’s New York office determined that Branch had committed a “flagrant foul” and was ejected from the game.
This decision incensed Branch, who launched into a tirade against the referees that resulted in an additional 15-yard penalty. The officiating crew noted that Branch was not penalized on the field for flipping the bird, but the NFL’s Football Operations compliance team assessed him a pair of $10,128 fine, one for the hit and another for the middle-finger gestures.
Along with being an active distributor of the Lions’ Branch-themed T-Shirts, Joseph also had his safety partner’s back on the field, forcing a crucial fumble moments before halftime that helped Detroit take a dominant 21-3. While Branch has managed to keep himself on the field, he and Joseph have formed arguable the premier safety duo in the NFL, with both players receiving higher than a 90 overall grade on PFF to this point.
Branch also received some immediate support from his starting quartet of defensive linemen, who all reposted the same image of the middle-finger incident onto their Instagram stories. But while his teammates have seemed to rally behind the middle-finger move, Branch has expressed his embarrassment and regret at the situation.
“That’s not something I wanted to show or want people to notice me as that,” he said. “That was just the heat of the moment for me and I apologize to everyone who seen that.”
Branch and his Lions teammates will look to pick up another win Sunday evening against the Houston Texans. Kickoff is set for 8:20 p.m. ET and will broadcast on NBC.
