ESPN reporter Laura Rutledge has been in the middle of two separate awkward postgame interviews down the stretch of the NFL season.
The first, after a last-second win by the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football in Week 14, came when Rutledge had to retrieve quarterback Justin Herbert from a crowd and push through a condensed set of questions. In that case, Rutledge explained that she felt bad for Herbert after a difficult game gutting through injury and had already given him nearly two minutes to visit with teammates and opposing players.
In San Francisco for Week 18, Rutledge was again caught in the middle of a strange postgame situation with Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold. Cameras caught Darnold brushing past her as she stood, microphone in hand, waiting for an interview. Fans wondered whether Rutledge had once again been blown off by a winning quarterback, live on air.
But in an interview with Front Office Sports released this week, Rutledge clarified that the Darnold clip was nothing more than a miscommunication — and that fans only saw part of the story.
Because the game ended early on Saturday night, Rutledge and her ESPN crew gave Darnold more time to meander on-field before cutting to the interview. The conversation picked up by cameras was merely Rutledge letting Darnold know he had more time, and Darnold saying he was going to catch up with San Francisco’s Brock Purdy.
“I felt I needed to say something because it frustrates me when these guys are being great gentlemen about it, and they’re being so kind, and they get any criticism at all,” Rutledge explained. “He could not have been a kinder person about it. And then he was so thankful afterward, he came up to me again, which nobody saw after we finished the interview, and thanked me for letting him have that time.”
Later in the interview with FOS, after reiterating the details of the Herbert incident, Rutledge emphasized the “pressure” and time-sensitive nature of sideline reporting. The reason some of these moments of miscommunication come about is because networks are live on air and relying on several people in a chain to deliver content in a timely manner.
In spite of it all, Rutledge managed both strange encounters like a pro and managed to get interviews with both QBs.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.