Seeking Thanks
The Cardinals' Week 12 game against the Rams fell on Thanksgiving weekend, and while everyone was recovering from the Thursday feasts, the team was still trying to find some semblance of togetherness on the field.
Regardless of the outcome, another game brings more photos to talk about. Let's start at the beginning.
With the cooler temperatures finally coming to the valley, I photographed player and coach arrivals outside. After this shot of Trey McBride, tight ends coach Ben Steele wanted to show me his best "Trey McBride impression."
I think it's pretty accurate!
Marco Wilson is always wearing something cool for arrivals, and this week he wanted to showcase his jacket.
Take some guesses on the player who's trying to creep in the background of the first photo (scroll down for the reveal).
The player was Dennis Gardeck who, in all his team-issued sweatsuit glory, wanted to copy Marco's poses.
I think this is now an episode of "who wore it better?"
I'll start off the pregame section with a glimpse into what happens when you have two cameras hanging off of your body at all times.
This is one of about 100 accidental photos that I "took," but it also captured my Thanksgiving-themed game day socks.
The alternate black uniforms made their return to State Farm Stadium this week, and it's interesting to see what accessories the players pair with them.
Trey McBride opted to keep the all-black look with his gloves.
But then Marquise Brown went bold and yellow for his gloves, mouthguard and cleats.
He also flashed his classic bejeweled grill.
A lot of the pregame photos are usually of the guys standing up, so when I saw two opportunities for me to also take a knee, I was relieved.
Not pictured: my knee pads.
There weren't many unique photo ops in the locker room this week, except this moment of Starling Thomas V doing some stretches.
And then I saw Dennis Gardeck grab a bag of sour gummy worms, but he is still haunted by the photo I took of him eating a banana.
We had a good laugh about this moment.
For team introductions this week, I wanted to try something new, so I brought my 400mm lens out to the end of the cheerleader line to get some front-facing photos of the players running out.
The entire group was very difficult to shoot through, but I liked this one of Hjalte Froholdt.
It was much easier when the individual introductions began, and I could focus on the one guy running out.
Roy Lopez was all smiles.
Kei'Trel Clark surprised the entire building by doing a round-off backflip as he was introduced. I can definitely say I've never seen that before!
Budda Baker was the final player introduced, and with my angle I was able to capture his high-fives with the fans on the field.
I grabbed my 85mm lens as he got closer, and while I was able to still get him full-body, I also captured one of our videographers getting his own cool shot.
(Hi Kyle)
I was able to crop Kyle out of the frame and make a nice image anyway.
During the coin toss, Kyler Murray was on the sideline getting some throws in. I still had my 85mm on and got a nice closeup as he walked by.
Since we all know how that game went, I'll skip the play-by-play and just pick a couple of plays I think were photographed well.
I was in the perfect spot for Kyler's rushing touchdown.
He kept running and passed through a light beam that made for an interesting shot.
And then he celebrated with Greg Dortch with a new handshake.
New to me, at least.
Clayton Tune was put in for the two-point conversion, and I was struggling with what lens I wanted to use for it.
I opted for the 400mm to try and track his face all the way through.
It would have been perfect, if Will Hernandez would have taken one step to the left.
I kept the 400mm for the celebration, which ended up well since Clayton was facing my direction.
But then Paris Johnson Jr. lifted him up and my frame was just a tad too tight to fit it all.
Everything on the field happens so fast, I either have time to get a shot of something with the wrong focal length, or miss some parts of the sequence.
With how much the Rams were using their run game, it was difficult to get clear photos of our defense in action.
I do like this group shot of all of them hard at work though.
I didn't get a clear view of Jalen Thompson's interception, but I caught the end of his run and the celebration.
I always freak out during interceptions because I expect the team to celebrate in the end zone, but this time they ran away from the one I was near so there was nothing I could do.
If anyone says I should have tried to run down there and catch them, I would like to see you try it first.
The most shocking play of the day was definitely the fake punt by Blake Gillikin.
I'll be honest, I thought it was just going to be another punt, so I was already up and moving towards my next field position and only caught the end of the play.
Lesson learned.
That's pretty much it for this week's game.
One more week until the bye, and I know this team will keep working hard, so of course I'll do the same.
