Midway through the second quarter of a critical NFC North Division game on the road, the Detroit Lions lost their defensive signal-caller, safety Brian Branch, to an ejection. Branch appeared to make an attempt at lowering his shoulder just as Green Bay Packers wide receiver Bo Melton was also turning his body, resulting in an unintended helmet to helmet collision.
There have been myriad instances of purposeful violence in the NFL over the years; complete, ejection-worthy stupidity that warranted the league dropping its judicial hammer. Just watch the last play in which the NFL ejected a player. Last year, Damontae Kazee went nearly horizontal, assuming the position of a diver jet as Indianapolis Colts receiver Michael Pittman Jr. was also diving toward the turf. Officiating crews have missed the purposeful twisting of ankles and torquing of other important joints, but flagged Branch for a play that I, personally, saw in three different games Sunday. In one of those instances (Miami and Buffalo) Jordan Poyer wasn’t ejected. In another, in Philadelphia-Jacksonville, a penalty wasn’t called at all.
We note that to say this: It’s the kind of administrative nonsense that can derail a game for a team that might struggle to control itself emotionally. We’re at a point in time where NFL coaches can barely keep their players in the building for practice (see: Jermaine Burton and the Cincinnati Bengals) or paying attention during the most critical play of the game (see: Tyrique Stevenson and the Chicago Bears).
So, it’s worth pointing out that the Lions, in a driving rainstorm, in a hostile environment at Lambeau Field, simply found another gear and turned the next-best team in their division into a fine powder by the end of the third quarter.
The Lions are the best team in the NFC and it’s not even remotely close. It’s true because the roster is the perfect mix of superstar talent and a premium middle class that helps Detroit grind out tougher games in the margins. It’s true because their coach, Dan Campbell, has his finger on the psychological flow of the building better than almost any other in the NFL thanks to his ability to tailor a locker room to his personality. But it’s especially true because they remain completely unphased by the wear of a long year.
Before the season, amid unprecedented and potentially crippling hype, the Lions didn’t eschew attention. They welcomed it. When Adian Hutchinson was lost for the season, they followed up the next two weeks by knocking off the previously undefeated Minnesota Vikings and putting up a 50-burger on the Tennessee Titans (and, reportedly, trading for former Packers pass-rushing star Za’Darius Smith at the deadline).
Now, in a divisional game that the team was clearly playing in a heightened state of excitement—just take a look at Amon-Ra St. Brown’s sweatshirt—the immediate two possessions after Branch’s ejection resulted in a 10-point swing that knocked the Packers out of a reasonable striking distance by halftime.
We can argue some of the details. Maybe Jordan Love was hobbled (too hobbled to have been playing?). Maybe the weather unfairly benefitted the Lions given their ability to control games on the ground (and, as we saw at the end of the third quarter, injuries in conjunction with the weather caused some errant, game-altering plays such as a bad snap that preceded a Packers field goal, or in the fourth quarter when Dontayvion Wicks dropped a ball that was a little behind him but catchable in a dryer climate). Maybe, unlike myself, a host of former players on social media and newly-minted league owner Tom Brady (who isn’t really allowed to be criticizing this kind of stuff on television anyway), you saw the hit as worthy of the league’s most serious in-game action.
The Lions’ response, however, isn’t up for debate. It never has been.
While it’s difficult to derive a large-scale narrative from one football game, we know for certain that, at some point during the Lions’ inevitable playoff run, everything will start to turn south. Given the tenor of this NFL season, pick your poison: another untimely injury, a wave of unfathomable calls, a horrendous bounce, an unfortunate slip on some poorly prepared surface. These instances haunt even the best NFL teams like familial ghosts.
Up until the beginning of this year, we could reasonably say that the only team unbothered by it all was the Kansas City Chiefs. Eight games into this season, there’s no doubt the two-time defending Super Bowl champions have company.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lions Shrug Off Brian Branch Ejection, Further Solidify Super Bowl Contender Status.
