NFL Films, which works in partnership with ESPN to produce the NFL Turning Point series, faced backlash over its Week 6 episode highlighting Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch. The segment was intended to explore Branch’s emotional response during the closing moments of the Lions’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, but many viewers felt it unfairly portrayed the young defender in a negative light.
The episode included multiple clips showing Branch being beaten in coverage and missing tackles before replaying the hard collision with JuJu Smith-Schuster that led to a post-game altercation. Though the original concept was to present the story from Branch’s perspective, fans criticized it for emphasizing his mistakes instead of providing balance.
Louis Riddick, the ESPN analyst narrating the piece, described Branch’s struggles throughout the game. “He got shown up by Patrick Mahomes, juked by Xavier Worthy, and later took a big hit from JuJu Smith-Schuster. That was the turning point that led to Branch’s boiling point,” Riddick stated during the broadcast.
After significant pushback online, NFL Films opted to delete the footage and later released an official explanation. The organization said every Turning Point episode is meant to showcase the analyst’s unique insight and voice.
“NFL Films wants each of its productions to reflect a distinctive viewpoint,” the statement read. “In NFL Turning Point, that perspective comes from Louis Riddick, who collaborates weekly with producers, reviewing every segment and script before recording narration. The sequence in question felt balanced in the full nine-minute episode, but when posted as a short clip on social media, it came across as overly critical of Brian Branch. For that reason, we chose to remove it.”
Following the removal, Riddick addressed the situation directly on X (formerly Twitter). He emphasized his respect for the Detroit Lions organization and acknowledged that the clip’s tone was not what he or the production team intended.
“I have tremendous respect for the Lions’ ownership, coaching staff, front office, and players,” Riddick wrote. “The Turning Point feature was designed to document both positive and negative moments from the game—not to target or embarrass anyone. Still, I understand how the short version could be interpreted as unfair toward the Lions or Brian Branch. That’s not something I want associated with my work, and I’ll make sure future projects avoid any room for such misunderstanding.”
