The second season of Folktales continues this week, with "Stanton Shuffle" premiering on the Arizona Cardinals YouTube channel Wednesday at 7 p.m.
That Drew Stanton was caught on camera was happenstance, the confluence of events of a play right by the Cardinals sideline, a network focusing on Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor, and Stanton's own runaway feelings in the moment.
The game itself was crucial, a 2015 road trip to Seattle that sealed the idea that was the season the NFC West belonged to the Cardinals, and the play that iced it was a memorable 48-yard touchdown run by Andre Ellington.
But what lasts from that game, and that play, was the Cardinals backup quarterback, pumping his arms and giving a kick in a celebration that still lives on in gif form some seven years later.
"My emotions got the best of me," Stanton admits.
The Cardinals were in the middle of their most successful season under coach Bruce Arians. The Seahawks were the reigning NFC champions. The game was on "Sunday Night Football," assuring not only an extra camera that would catch Stanton's celebration, but also a huge national audience that would consume Stanton's happiness pretty much before most of the team knew it even happened.
"In an era where everything is viral and it takes off, it gets shared and it gets posted," said Cardinals senior vice president of media relations Mark Dalton, who stood on the sideline just a few yards from Stanton that night. "It was genuine, and it was a raw emotion.
"I think all of us in our lives at some point, I hope we have a moment that inspires such passion and exuberance and enthusiasm."
Said starting quarterback Carson Palmer that night, "that was just all heart."