PHOENIX — One of the highlights during Tuesday’s media day for Super Bowl XLIX was a bad-boy running back who had his own way of handling prying questions from the mass of reporters.

No, not Seattle’s reluctant Marshawn Lynch, who gathered the biggest crowd of the day only to dismiss it by repeating “I’m just here so I won’t be fined” 29 times before departing after five minutes.

This bad-boy running back is LeGarrette Blount, who is in his second tour of duty with the New England Patriots and in the latest chapter of his unusual, perhaps somewhat infamous, career that first gained national attention at Oregon when he knocked out an opponent with one punch.

Unlike Lynch, Blount wasn’t reluctant about much Tuesday as he smiled and chatted with the media for almost a full hour, exclaiming he was thrilled to be back after literally walking out on the Pittsburgh Steelers during the 11th game of the season.

For the most part, the 6-foot, 250-pound Blount took on questions much as he does erstwhile tacklers — head on. He declared that the Seahawks “aren’t immortal, they are only human and can be beat.”

And he did not demure when asked to compare his running style to that of Lynch. First he described Lynch.

“He is a beast, just like they say,” Blount declared. “He runs hard. He has good balance. He is tough. He makes his biggest plays at the biggest moments of the biggest games.”

So, does that mean Blount is comparing himself to Lynch, who gained more than 1,200 yards a season each of the past four years while Blount, who entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie in 2010, bounced through four teams, including one — the Patriots — twice?

Yes, it does.

“What two running backs have the best yards after contact?” he said, in a way that almost demanded the answer be Lynch and Blount. In a way he is correct. Since 2010, the running backs with the best average yards after contact in a season are Blount, Lynch and the Minnesota Vikings’ Adrian Peterson, who is not quite in the league at this moment.

Blount had the best average among them when, in 2010, he averaged 2.94 yards after contact. Peterson’s 2.93 in 2012 was next best, and Lynch averaged 2.53 this season.

While Lynch’s Beast Mode is well known after helping the Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship last year and then a return trip this season, Blount’s great late season and postseason accomplishments are far less known.

Last January, Blount set a Patriots record with four touchdowns as he led the way to a 43-22 playoff win over Indianapolis Colts. In the AFC Championship Game this year, Blount again brutalized the Colts with 148 yards rushing and three touchdowns as the Patriots won easily, 45-7.

So, yes, Blount does believe he is comparable to Lynch, especially in late-season and playoff games.

“Both of us produced in big games when it counted the most,” he said.

And he is confident he can produce in Sunday’s Super Bowl, despite facing a Seattle defense rated No. 1 overall and No. 3 against the run this season, yielding 81.5 yards per game.

“Yeah, they are good, but I don’t care about them being the top defense, that doesn’t bother me,” he said. “Again, they’re not immortal. They can be beaten.

“I am just grateful to be here, to get this chance. It just shows that things just work out if you just do what you do.”

What Blount did, however, was get himself fired by the Steelers when, in a game at Tennessee, he walked into the locker room before it was over, then told an attendant “I quit” just before boarding the bus.

That is not what either the Steelers or Blount expected when they signed him away from the Patriots last March with a free agent contract worth $3.85 million over two years.

Blount rushed for only 266 yards and two touchdowns for Pittsburgh. He also had off-the-field issues, getting arrested on a marijuana charge.

The Steelers cut him Nov. 18, the day after the game against the Titans, and the Patriots signed him on Nov. 20. There are some who question if the Patriots — who seem vulnerable to accusations of wrongdoing these days — may have contacted Blount even before he was cut. Or maybe Blount called the Patriots.

On Tuesday, he was asked several time and in several ways about exactly when he and the Patriots really first discussed him going back to New England.

To each and every query, Blount took a page from Lynch’s book on how to handle the media. He smiled. He said nothing. This smash-mouth runner showed more elusiveness in that press conference than he ever did on the field.

Regardless of when it happened, Blount said Patriots coach Bill Belichick was the first to contact him.

“He just said, ‘Be ready to go,'” Blount said. “I was ready to be back with the best team and the best coach in football. I was ready then. I am ready now. I can’t wait.”

–Frank Cooney, founder and publisher of The Sports Xchange and NFLDraftScout.com, covered the NFL and the draft since the 1960s and is a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.