The injury suffered by Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on Thursday night during the game against the Cincinnati Bengals created a frenzy of reactions about whether or not he should have been on the field and if the franchise and NFL are doing enough to protect players.
Amazon’s Thursday Night Football broadcast team came under fire for the way they handled the situation, especially during the halftime show when the panelists seemed to talk around the nuanced context that was needed regarding Tua’s situation and the ongoing NFLPA investigation into the injury he suffered on Sunday.
TNF analyst Richard Sherman received a bit of criticism directly given that he once wrote an article in which he said he hated “Thursday Night Football” because of how the short week affects player heath. Pro Football Talk managing editor Michael David Smith had some particularly pointed criticism for the former NFL star.
“As an active player, Richard Sherman was one of the most vocal critics of Thursday Night Football, arguing that it was dangerous for players to play with so little time off between games,” wrote Smith. “Now he cashes a paycheck on Thursday Night Football and ignores the issue after Tua’s injury.”
To their credit, the Amazon broadcast team corrected its mistakes during the post-game show and a more essential and nuanced conversation was had. However, Sherman caught wind of the criticism and decided he wasn’t going to let that slide.
“Clearly scared to tag me, wrote Sherman in a quote tweet response to Smith. “If you watched the show you would know my comments on TUAs injury. To act as if me working for a network has any bearing on if the game will be played or not is asinine. We can have a face to face conversation about the issue.”
Not sure if that face-to-face conversation will happen, but Sherman will get more chances to discuss player safety and health next week on TNF.