ALLEN PARK — The punishments continue to roll in for the Detroit Lions stemming from their Week 6 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The NFL announced on Saturday that it has fined both Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone and defensive lineman Tyler Lacy for unnecessary roughness, with the added line item of “striking/kicking/tripping/kneeing.”
Anzalone picked up a $12,172 fine, while Lacy’s was for $5,722.
Per Spotrac, this is Anzalone’s first fine since the 2023 season, whereas for Lacy, it’s his first since entering the league in 2023.
The pair of Lions defenders join fellow teammate Brian Branch in receiving punishment from the league office based on their actions from the Week 6 matchup.
Earlier in the week, the NFL suspended the Lions’ safety for this week’s Monday Night Football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers due to his actions following Sunday’s game.
The Lions’ defender was involved in a postgame altercation with Chiefs receiver Juju Smith-Schuster, shoving the receiver to the ground, which led both teams to get involved in separating the two.
Interestingly enough, neither Smith-Schuster nor his teammate, Patrick Mahomes, picked up fines this week for their actions in Sunday’s game.
With 37 seconds left in the first half, Mahomes ran in a one-yard touchdown to give the Chiefs a 13-10 lead. Following the touchdown, Mahomes could be seen on camera seemingly taunting Branch, pointing in his direction, and flexing.
Later in the game, with roughly three minutes left in regulation, Smith-Schuster threw what could be deemed an illegal block in the back on Branch, sending the Lions defender to the ground.
When Branch spoke with reporters after the game, he alluded to Smith-Schuster’s actions as the reason that sparked the postgame altercation.
“It was a childish thing, but I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the plays and refs don’t catch it,” Branch said after the game. “They be trying to bully me out there. I should have never did it. It was childish.”
Between the trick-play snafu with Lions quarterback Jared Goff and the NFL’s involvement in the call, Branch’s postgame actions, the recently deleted NFL Films video critiquing said actions, and now the pair of fines assessed to Anzalone and Lacy, it’s been a long week for the Lions regarding the fallout of the Chiefs game.
They have a chance to turn the page on Monday when they host the Buccaneers for the second consecutive primetime matchup — a showdown between two of the NFC’s best at Ford Field.
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