Detroit Lions S Kerby Joseph continues his outstanding play with the first pick-six of his career

Midway through the second quarter, with the Packers facing a 2nd & 20 at their own 38-yard line, Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw an incomplete pass to wide receiver Bo Melton down the left sideline, but Lions safety Brian Branch was caught charged with unnecessary roughness in a helmet-to-helmet hit against Melton.

After a review of the play by New York's officiating control center, Branch was ejected for the hit and assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the way out, giving Green Bay the ball at Detroit's 32-yard line.

Green Bay eventually missed a 46-yard field goal to end the drive.

“Not automatically,” NFL senior vice president of officiating Perry Fewell told ESPN’s Rob Demovsky in a postgame pool report about the exclusion. “We reviewed all angles and clearly felt that he had time and space to make a different decision as the act was in fact a flagrant foul. And he clearly had the opportunity to avoid the head and neck area.”

Fewell said the exclusion was decided in consultation with the responsible center in New York.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell praised referee Clete Blakeman and his team for their transparency on the field immediately after the game and said it would be a teaching moment for Branch.

“Definitely try to lower your goal enough so that it doesn’t get that far,” Campbell said. “I never want to take away his aggressiveness, that's what makes him the player he is, but it doesn't help us if he's not available in the game. So I tell him to just slow it down.” And he has to get used to that too. You play prime time games, New York is going to watch it all.