When personal fouls are called in NFL games, the league officiating office in New York sometimes contacts the referee on the field to tell him to eject the player. That happened to Lions defensive back Brian Branch during Sunday’s big game against the Packers, and Lions coach Dan Campbell thinks it happens more in higher-profile games.
Campbell said he wants Branch and the rest of his players to understand that they’re under a microscope from the league office because the Lions are one of the best teams in the NFL and frequently play in games that the TV networks feature prominently in their schedules.
“He’s got to get used to that, too. When you play in prime time games, New York’s gonna look at all these. They don’t care about the 1 o’clock games. They do those prime time games. So understand the situation,” Campbell said.
Campbell probably wasn’t watching Sunday’s 1 o’clock games and may not have known how right he was: About three hours before the Lions kicked off, Carolina’s Xavier Woods delivered a brutal blow to the head on Saints wide receiver Chris Olave, drawing four penalty flags and sending Olave to the hospital. Woods was allowed to stay in the game. The Panthers-Saints game was between two of the league’s worst teams and was televised to a small audience. The Lions-Packers game was the marquee game of Sunday afternoon and televised to a huge audience. Branch was kicked out of that huge game for a hit that didn’t even injure Green Bay receiver Bo Melton, while Woods was allowed to keep playing after seriously injuring Olave.
Why did the league office order Branch ejected and let Woods keep playing? That’s a question that the league office should answer. Campbell might find himself in hot water for suggesting that the league treats higher-profile games differently, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.
