Drew Lock postgame interview, screengrab via ESPN.
NFLBy Awful Announcing Staff on

If you had any doubt about the value of sideline reporters and what they can bring to the table for a broadcast, Lisa Salters’ interview with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock should put those questions to rest.

With Geno Smith’s status in doubt right up until kickoff, Lock got the start in a pivotal Monday Night Football matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles. Amazingly, Lock led a last-minute touchdown drive capped off by a beautiful throw into the corner of the endzone to Jaxon Smith-Njigba to cap off a 20-17 Seahawks victory.

After the game, Lock was interviewed by Salters and it was anything but your typical postgame interview. Salters could sense the emotion in Lock’s voice and pressed the quarterback on what it meant to come off the bench and win such an important game. To his credit, Lock’s honesty in sharing the challenges of being a backup, waiting for his opportunity, and still believing in himself made it one of the best postgame interviews we have seen in some time.

 

“It’s so hard. It’s so hard to describe the feeling of not playing for so long, or at least what feels like a really long time to me,” Lock said. “And then you sit there, you watch games, you wonder can I do this still? I haven’t been out there on the field, that’s the human nature of it. You get back out there last week, I’m like, you know what, I’m the man still. I can still do this.”

You could pull a lot of quotes from that interview and frame it as a feel good story, but Lock talking about his teammates rallying around him and his inner belief that he could get the job done was incredible to see in the moment. And give all the credit to him and Salters for giving us a moment worth sticking around after the game to see.