Dianna Russini said a New York Times story from the Super Bowl media center left a lingering question: which coach FaceTimed after she was pulled over for texting while driving helped persuade an officer not to ticket her. The Times did not identify the coach,
By the time Dianna Russini told the story on Stugotz & Company radio on Thursday, February 5, the moment had already turned into something more than a media anecdote. It was a question — one that still refuses to go away — about which head coach she called from the Super Bowl media center.
Russini said she’d been pulled over for texting while driving, presumably in New Jersey where she lives. She told the officer she was trying to break a story: that the Bills had just fired coach Sean McDermott. The officer, she said, told her he wasn’t a fan of the Bills — but of another team. Russini assumed that team was the Jets. The officer corrected her.
Russini then offered to connect the officer to his favorite team’s coach. She said she FaceTimed the coach, who took the call, spoke with the officer, and persuaded him not to issue her a ticket.
“What a nasty play,” Russini said after telling the sequence, adding, “I was desperate. I don’t want to get a ticket. My husband was gonna kill me. Texting and driving — I shouldn’t be doing that. I know that … But it worked.”
The New York Times piece that prompted the current follow-up did something that only tightened the knot: it did not identify the coach who took the FaceTime call. It also made one point clear — the coach was not Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. The identity wasn’t McDermott, either, and it also wasn’t Jets coach Aaron Glenn.
With those exclusions in place, the field becomes surprisingly large. Russini’s story ties to a specific point in the coaching carousel. McDermott was fired on the morning of Monday, January 19, with word of the termination circulating just after 9:00 a.m. ET. At that time, the NFL had eight other head-coaching vacancies: Dolphins, Browns, Steelers, Ravens, Titans, Raiders, Falcons, and Cardinals. The Giants had just hired John Harbaugh.
That still leaves 21 possibilities for the coach who answered the call. The coaches employed at the time were: Zac Taylor. Shane Steichen. DeMeco Ryans. Liam Coen. Sean Payton. Andy Reid. Jim Harbaugh. Brian Schottenheimer. Dan Quinn. Nick Sirianni. John Harbaugh. Kevin O’Connell. Dan Campbell. Matt LaFleur. Ben Johnson. Todd Bowles. Kellen Moore. Dave Canales. Sean McVay. Kyle Shanahan. and Mike Macdonald.
The timing adds another layer to the guesswork. In California and Washington, it would have been just after 6:00 a.m. That could make it less likely that coaches such as Sean McVay. Mike Macdonald. John Harbaugh. or Kyle Shanahan were in the office that early — though the article’s discussion also points out that the Rams and Seahawks were set to play the NFC Championship six days later. and that the Rams had flown home from playing the Bears in Chicago the night before.
Russini’s question — “Who does that?” — has been echoed ever since the Times story was posted three days ago. She said she was desperate to avoid a ticket and that the call worked, but the missing identity turns the incident into a live mystery for fans who now want the simplest answer.
Tony Farmer, described as embedded in the broader Vrabel-Russini storyline and “won’t let go,” suggested reporters covering the teams should ask the question the next time the coach is available, at the outset of training camp.
There’s a harsher side to why the coaching identity matters now, too. New Jersey has a broad bribery law, along with strict rules regarding texting and driving. For a first offense, the fine is $200. The second offense is $400. The third offense carries a $600 fine and a 90-day suspension of driving privileges.
In Russini’s account. she said she’d been pulled over not long before the incident in question but that the officer let her go because one of her kids was screaming in the back seat. That detail is used to frame the stakes: if the stop in question was a first offense. $200 would be the base penalty. and Russini’s admission of texting while driving would have put her closer to losing driving privileges for 90 days.
The story isn’t only about persuasion, either. The piece also raises the bigger practical question: what does it mean to use discretion to avoid a ticket — and then to hand the officer a phone call to the head coach of his favorite team?
A New Jersey bribery law uses the phrase “benefit as consideration.” The discussion argues that giving a police officer a chance to talk to the head coach of his favorite NFL team could fall under a “benefit of consideration” in exchange for the “exercise of discretion of a public servant.”
A Times spokesperson called the FaceTime-for-no-ticket situation “unacceptable conduct.” The piece stresses that chances of Russini or the officer facing bribery charges are extremely slim. But it still leaves people watching the story with an obvious next question: which coach took the call. spoke to the officer. and talked him out of ticketing her.
For now, it’s one incident with too many missing links — and a list of 21 coaches that fans can’t stop running through. It’s a puzzle that, in the eyes of those following the story, belongs to all 21 teams and coaches until someone finally confirms who was on the other end of the FaceTime call.
Dianna Russini Stugotz & Company Super Bowl texting while driving New Jersey bribery law Sean McDermott Mike Vrabel Aaron Glenn NFL head coaches training camp