Safety Tips from Detroit Lions Coach Dan Campbell Brian Branch after the old Alabama The defensive back was ejected from Sunday’s game for a helmet-to-helmet hit: lower his target, and if he’s going to make a hit like that, do it against the Panthers, not the Packers.

In the second quarter of the Lions’ 24–14 victory in an NFC North showdown with Green Bay, Branch was disqualified from further participation after being flagged for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Packers receiver Bo Melton.

RELATED: SEE THE HIT THAT EJECTED BRIAN BRANCH FROM THE LIONS-PACKERS GAME

Perry Fewell, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating, said Branch’s action did not trigger an automatic expulsion, but that his disqualification was a decision made after consultation between on-field officials and headquarters. league referees in New York.

“We reviewed all the angles” Fewell said“and we clearly felt that he had the time and space to make a different choice, because this act was an egregious mistake. And he clearly had the opportunity to avoid the head and neck area.

On Monday, Campbell said that was pretty much what he was told.

“What we were told was that it was intentional, it was blatant” Campbell said.“and that’s what it is.”

The Lions-Packers game was almost a national game on Sunday. Only one other NFL game started at 3:25 p.m. CST, and only FOX TV affiliates in the Los Angeles and Seattle markets aired the Rams-Seahawks game. The rest of the country saw the Detroit-Green Bay contest through the network.

“Definitely try to lower your target to where it won’t become (a headshot),” Campbell said. Sunday, “but I never want to take away his aggression and the skills that make him the player he is. But it also doesn’t help us when he’s not available in the game, so I’d just tell him to turn it down.

“And he also has to get used to it when you play games in prime time. New York will look into all of this. They don’t care about the 1 p.m. games. They’re giving us prime time games, so understand the situation and we’ll get through it. He’ll be fine.

An example widely used to support Campbell’s assertion, not by the coach but by NFL observers, was Carolina safety Xavier Woods’ hit on New Orleans receiver Chris Olave during ‘a game earlier in the afternoon between a team with a five-game losing streak. and a team with a six-game losing streak.

Woods’ hit caused a shower of yellow flags and left Olave lying on the turf for a lengthy delay while he was carefully removed and then taken to hospital.

Woods was penalized, but he was not ejected.

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Branch also received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after being informed of his ejection. Fewell said that was assessed before Branch left the field, greeting the Lambeau Stadium crowd with two middle fingers, his arms extended to the sky.

Although Branch could expect a fine from the NFL for his hit and possibly a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct as well, Fewell said he thought Branch’s kickoff could be handled through the NFL’s compliance department, which handles discipline for on-field actions considered “detrimental to the league.”