Joey Blount is a self-described "energy guy." The safety who is one of the Cardinals' best special teams players, will be loud and energetic on the field, on the sideline, and yes, in the locker room after a win. He's the guy that ends up in many of the postgame locker room pictures.
That, Blount said, is by design.
"It takes a lot to win in this league, so it kind of bothered me when we won and wouldn't celebrate," Blount said. "I was like, 'We have to celebrate every win.' It's a battle every week so we have to celebrate every victory the most we can and then on Monday, we start again. But after the game, I'm going to celebrate until we can't no more."
That it comes from a special teams star is no surprise. The Cardinals, under coordinator Jeff Rodgers, have excelled this season in that facet of the game. Blount was in the middle of a huge play Sunday against the Bears, racing down to catch a Blake Gillikin punt on the fly inside the Chicago 1. A couple of plays later, the Cardinals had a safety.
But it was after Blount's play that the special teams again were on display with the emotion. Blount jumped on the half-wall in front of the field seats behind the end zone, soon joined by his unit mates in celebration. The group did something similar after DeeJay Dallas made the onside punt catch later in the game, the play in which everyone called for a fair catch at the same time.
"We bring energy into whoever is going out there next," special teamer Zach Pascal said. "We make a play, let's get the crowd hype, let's all get hype. Special teams usually gets (waved off), but the guys we have in this room, we take it so serious. We create our own energy. It bleeds all the way through the team."
Pascal said that other players "low-key want to be part of special teams." But Pascal added the group is going to continue with both the high play and energy, something they believe contributes greatly to this year's success.
Blount would love at some point to get more defensive snaps at safety. But he's playing at a Pro Bowl level on special teams, and that's what the Cardinals need.
"Knowing where our team is right now and our growth and knowing your role on the team I understand my value is on special teams," Blount said. "It's going to take a lot more (from us) in December and even January."
