Laura Rutledge Takes Clear Side In Postgame Interview Controversy

There was a little bit of controversy about a month ago when ESPN's Laura Rutledge had an awkward moment with Los Angeles Chargers QB Justin Herbert right after a big win. Though most seem to have forgotten about it already, Rutledge hasn't and she's speaking out about it.

Appearing on Front Office Sports Today, Rutledge gave her side of what happened. She said that while she appreciates that not every player wants to do those postgame, on-field interviews, doing so comes with team permission well beforehand.

"Yes, so that one was a different scenario, right? Just so people understand, and I think Justin Herbert’s amazing, and I get it, not everybody wants to do these interviews, right? We’re there to do our jobs, they’re there to do theirs, and I actually credit him for still standing there and doing the interview. But for background reference, we okay these interviews with the team. So the team has PR. We go to the PR, we make sure they know, 'O.K., so you’re gonna get this person, this is how it’s all going to go.' It’s actually a really interesting conversation. And in that game, remember, it came down to the final moment because it was an interception on the last play in overtime that won the game for the Chargers. So it wasn’t like we could do a bunch of planning, but we knew, and we had even talked pregame, that if they won, Justin Herbert was going to do an interview with me, because I had the Chargers; Lisa Salters was on the other side. So anyway when the game goes final, we’re trying to give him as much time as possible, and they’re in my ear saying, 'You’ve got to get him, you’ve got to get him.' I’m like, 'I know, I’m trying to give him some space.' We have a talkback button so we can talk to the truck. I keep saying, 'I don’t have him,' and they can see that I don’t have him. I keep saying, 'I don’t have him, I don’t have him.'

"Well, finally they thought I had gotten close enough to him, which I had, because I was right on him, but I was trying to give him enough time to say hello to everyone and all that. It was over 90 seconds after air, which doesn’t seem like that long, but in TV and really in that type of scenario, it is. Because there’s plenty of time to see people. Most people had cleared off the field. Finally, I had to just get to him and I realized my mic was hot and I’m like, 'O.K., we’re on, you know, we got to go here.' And, you know, it was interesting because I know he had been through so much. I mean, he had a broken hand, and he was frustrated, I think, with the way that some of the parts of the game had gone and he had been so tough. He had played so well with everything he was dealing with. But I completely changed my interview structure because I wanted to get him out as fast as possible. I didn’t want to keep him any longer than we had to. I’m so sensitive to somebody not wanting to necessarily be there. … He doesn’t want credit. He loves to give credit to his teammates. I think that was a lot of the reason why it went the way that it did. But again credit to Justin for sticking through it—and doing the interview. No hard feelings by me. 

"Emotions are high down there, Mike. That’s the other thing that’s crazy. I think, you know, there are so many people that are sitting on their couch, and they think they sort of understand what’s going on, and that that’s all great. But it is also our job to bring the emotion of the game to life. And sometimes like what’s happening down there on the field, they just played in this crazy game, and then all of a sudden we’re going to be talking to them. That’s kind of the beauty of it. There are some fans that say we’re bothering them and things like that. I get that perspective, but also as a fan, for me, I want to know, what’s happening down there? What’s actually going on? And that really is sort of the truest inside peek of what these guys are actually dealing with down there."