There have been plenty of unusual postgame interviews over the years, but the one Las Vegas Raiders’ linebacker Robert Spillane gave to NBC’s Melissa Stark after their Sunday Night Football win over the Jets stands out. Spillane had previously told Stark this week that his wife Shelby was pregnant, and he used the spotlight gathered from his crucial interception inside the final two minutes to announce that to the world in a postgame interview with Stark:
“We saw your wife Shelby celebrating with the big play. You shared something with me this week. You want to break some news here?” “Yeah, my wife is actually pregnant, so we get to tell the world tonight that my beautiful wife will have our first baby in June.”
Here’s Spillane’s pick that set this up:
Spillane, 27, is in his sixth NFL season. He entered the league with the Tennessee Titans in 2018 as an undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan University, then played with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2019-2022, and then signed with Las Vegas as a free agent this March.
With the Raiders, Spillane has started every game for the first time in his career. This year, he has a career-high 81 tackles in 10 games so far, plus three of his four career interceptions. He also has a fumble recovery and three tackles for loss.
It’s pretty remarkable how this worked out, with Spillane sharing that news with Stark during the week and then him making the crucial late play that made him a logical postgame interview choice. And it made for a notable TV moment Sunday.
[Awful Announcing on Twitter]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.