The fourth quarter of San José State’s 42-24 win over Sacramento State on Thursday night featured a scary moment and commentary from TNT Sports’ Darius Walker that could conservatively be described as awkward and poorly timed.
While Sacramento State led for much of the game, San José State was ultimately too strong. The Spartans took their first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, Hornets return man Michael Johnson was hit hard while being tackled by San José State’s John Norwood and Matt Robinson, and subsequently fumbled. It also became quickly clear that Johnson was badly hurt.
The subsequent delay lasted for several minutes. Ultimately, Johnson was carted off of the field. Right before that happened, TNT Sports field reporter Jared Greenberg shared good news on the truTV/Max broadcast.
“Michael Johnson is conscious, and he is moving his extremities,” Greenberg said. “He is being carted off the field, surrounded by members of his family.”
Jared Greenberg reports that Sacramento State RB Michael Johnson was “Conscious and moving his extremities” before he was carted off of the field during Thursday’s game against San Jose State. pic.twitter.com/wanfURfUGU
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 30, 2024
But for several minutes before that, Johnson was on the field and seemingly completely motionless. The potential severity of the injury made some of the commentary from Walker feel out of place.
Walker began to criticize Johnson’s technique just seconds after the hit.
“He didn’t protect himself. The issue is he didn’t protect himself because he didn’t get his pads down. He takes a massive shot, and drops that football.”
Omg I just seen this guy have a seizure in the San Jose State game…
Prayers man hate to see stuff like this..
Michael Johnson I’ll be praying for you man.💔🙏 pic.twitter.com/C6oeKo7hjb
— Everything Buzz City (@EverythingBuzzC) August 30, 2024
Walker continued with that analysis when the game returned from commercial.
“The coaching point for Johnson here, is that you have to get your pads down in traffic,” Walker said. “It’s so vital to be lower than your defender when you’re going in traffic like that. Protecting the football, but also, just the fact that when you get hit, you’ll go straight to the ground. Less likely that the ball will come out. You’ve just got to protect yourself as it relates to it. When you’re in traffic and you know you’re about to take a shot, you got to get your pads down. That’s the coaching point here — get your pads down.”
“But, like, the coaching point for (Michael) Johnson here, is that you have to get your pads down in traffic. It’s so vital to be lower than your defender when you’re going in traffic like that… You’ve just gotta protect yourself as it relates to it…” – Darius Walker https://t.co/BMUfAxt5ZW pic.twitter.com/svrMbT5byU
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 30, 2024
This left some viewers annoyed.
This is pretty infuriating. Michael Johnson of Sacramento State took a huge hit in the game and while Ari Wolfe continues to sound concerned and human, Darius Walker can only discuss “coaching tips” while a player lies motionless on the field.
Not the right time.
— Mike Pendleton (@MP2310) August 30, 2024
Right! And then when he’s carted off they’re like “that was a delay of 11 minutes, let’s see how this affects the players”…like, screw you dude have some compassion
— Wes Adams (@wesadams05) August 30, 2024
Right! And then when he’s carted off they’re like “that was a delay of 11 minutes, let’s see how this affects the players”…like, screw you dude have some compassion
— Wes Adams (@wesadams05) August 30, 2024
Prayers up for Michael Johnson man. Shame on you Darius Walker https://t.co/RDUG5VRAdy
— Anthony Damcott (@AnthonyDamcott) August 30, 2024
yea couldn’t believe he said that https://t.co/Miq4wWcP86
— Mari (@ohhhthatsMari) August 30, 2024
The frustration is understandable. From seemingly blaming Johnson for the injury to going into trivial matters (relatively speaking) like holding onto the ball, this wasn’t Walker’s shining moment.
We can, however, offer some defense of Walker.
This was not a Damar Hamlin situation. What made Hamlin’s situation particularly scary was how normal everything that led up to it was. He made a fairly standard tackle on Tee Higgins. The two players fell to the ground and quickly popped up. For a few seconds, it was business as usual. When Hamlin fell a few seconds later, it was easy to fear the worst because everything that happened before it was incredibly common by NFL standards. There’s nothing Hamlin did on that play that he — and every other safety in the NFL — hadn’t done hundreds of times before.
The hit that Johnson took was far more violent. It was not the kind of hit that you’ll see dozens of times in any NFL or college game. So, because the play itself was abnormal, it’s more natural to look at how it could have been avoided.
That said, this was certainly not the time or place to make that point. In the immediate aftermath of the hit, it’s an easier mistake to make. But continuing along the same line of analysis after a commercial break is harder to defend — regardless of how valid his point might have been. Even just waiting a few minutes until Johnson was taken off the field and seen moving would have made more sense. This was not a great moment from a young analyst.
[Everything Buzz City on X, Photo Credit: truTV/TNT]
