Flying High
A dominating win over the New York Jets was the story of Week 10, and it was just what the Cardinals needed right before the bye week.
The home November game meant celebrating and honoring those who serve with the Salute to Service initiative featuring special gear and field decor:
There were some celeb sightings on the sideline during pregame with Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton making an appearance.
The offense was introduced this week and gave us a variety of faces in the process.
Tag yourself, I'm Hjalte Froholdt:
I tried to get some different detail shots during the National Anthem like Trey McBride's camouflage gloves and Kyler Murray juxtaposed with the open roof:
With it being the Salute to Service game, I knew I wanted to capture Paris Johnson Jr. during the anthem since he always does a salute at the end.
To wrap up pregame, I posted up in front of the captains before they walked out to the coin toss.
This week's honorary captain was Paris, and I don't know about you all, but I wouldn't want to mess with this group:
The offense started strong with a huge James Conner catch-and-run.
I started with my 400mm lens but quickly had to switch to my 24-70mm once I saw how he was breaking through the defense:
I missed his landing because I was blocked by the referee, and even though it ended up not being a touchdown, the play was still worth celebrating.
Take note of the grass caught in Paris Johnson Jr.'s helmet in the second photo:
Unfortunately, for the actual touchdown, I was blocked on both the play and the celebration.
Proof:
The defense was so good this week that it felt like we were always on offense.
The next sequence of photos I want to share is from a Kyler Murray-to-Trey McBride pass and, naturally, the McBride emotion:
I was glad to be in the end zone for that play because of the celebration, but it also put me in a great position for Kyler's first touchdown.
I love coach Jonathan Gannon's arms up in the background of the second photo to add to the composition:
A lot of the defensive plays happened so fast that I only had a split second to get a good photo out of it, which is a great problem to have football-ically, not so much photographically:
I learned my lesson from missing the last couple Trey McBride hurdles, so this week I posted up further down the field to get a cleaner shot.
I focused on him running and knew once he threw the defender off of him it was going to make for some cool images:
Our photo team got really lucky this week with having the touchdowns come right to us (shoutout photo team!), and while I was in a great position for Marvin Harrison Jr.'s touchdown, my camera quickly shifted focus as he actually caught the ball ...
I kept my camera on him as he celebrated towards the crowd, and because I knew Paris Johnson Jr. was on his way, I zoomed out a little bit and caught a photo focused on the screaming fans:
I always appreciate when players commit to doing the same celebration over and over because it helps me anticipate what photos will come out of it.
Jesse Luketa was able to celebrate back-to-back after a huge tackle and sack:
As the day went on, the sun shone through the windows of the stadium rather than the roof and it created small light pockets upon which I was able to capitalize:
As the defense moved to the opposite end of the field, I turned to the bench area to see Zach Pascal hyping up the crowd:
The hype was worth it because it led into a Xavier Thomas fourth-down sack:
I moved back to the end zone after the offense got the ball because I had a feeling they were going to go all the way down and score.
I was right, and I was also in the perfect position:
I kept snapping away as Kyler ran in and celebrated, but I'll admit I did flinch a little bit when he threw the ball into the crowd:
Even Big Red was excited to get in on the action:
The final action play I'll show you is Budda Baker's sack.
I was focused on Kyzir White for that play just in case he made a big move, so you can see in the first photo that Budda comes out of nowhere:
I followed him after the takedown and even though he was facing the opposite way for the most part, it is a cool shot to see Aaron Rodgers on the ground:
With decisive wins like this, I am able to get some photos of the starters in the bench area; something I'm not usually able to get.
I ran out after the final play to get James Conner and Hjalte Froholdt shaking hands in victory:
After getting the typical quarterback meet-up photo, I quickly ran back towards the team tunnel to get our guys coming off the field and celebrating.
It's always fun to be the camera that they choose to pose for:
The posing didn't stop there.
I continued into the locker room earlier than usual and was grabbed many different times for group photos:
Gannon was all smiles as he reminded the team that they had work the next day and someone from the back joked, "Wait, what?"
During the game ball presentations, Gannon read off his notes to make sure he got all of the stats right for Kyler Murray:
This week's win was the cherry on top of a good streak that won't stop anytime soon, as far as the team is concerned.
As far as this photographer goes, I will see you after Week 12.
