Derrick Henry is getting all the headlines in advance of Sunday’s AFC showdown pitting undefeated teams in Nashville. But Henry isn’t even the starting running back participating in the contest who has the highest average yards per carry.
That would be James Conner.
Perhaps that’s fitting for a player who is a household name among Pittsburgh sports fans for what he accomplished in college and how he beat cancer moreso than for his pro career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But, as he’s proven over the past four games, watching Conner over an extended period of time leaves behind the impression – and the production – that he’s one of the NFL’s top running backs.
“When James is healthy, he’s really a good back,” Steelers offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said. “He is all-three-downs capable. He can excel in short yardage and goal-line. He is a powerful runner. When he is basically healthy, he’s protecting the ball, finding creases, moving piles. We’ve seen his ability to catch out of the backfield, and I value the ability to protect our quarterback.
“He’s worked awful hard maintaining his body and doing the things he’s supposed to be doing. That’s exciting.”
Conner is averaging almost 20 touches per game and 109 yards from scrimmage over the past four games. He has scored a touchdown in each, and the Steelers have won all four.
“It’s fun when you’re winning,” Conner said during a video conference Friday. “We’ve been winning, so I’ve been having fun.”
Conner has been part of the wins, too. He’s started and finished each of the past four games without having to miss any part of any of them – or any practice time between them – because of injury.
That might not sound like for much, but for the star-crossed Conner, it’s a revelation. Before this stretch of four consecutive full games played and dating to late 2018, Conner had started and finished just four of the Steelers’ previous 21 games without missing all or part of any because of injury.
Conner suffered 10 separate injuries during that time – afflictions to his knee (twice), head, ankle (three times), quadriceps (twice) and shoulder (twice). After a 2019 in which he was limited to 116 carries, 464 rushing yards, 10 games played and four games finished, it appeared as if more of the same was on the way in 2020 when Conner left the season opener during the second quarter because of an ankle injury.
Particularly when backup Benny Snell Jr. filled in with a 100-yard game, there were open questions about Conner’s future with the team early during his “contract year.”
Four games, 435 yards from scrimmage, four touchdowns and four wins later, no one is saying that.
“His game right now,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said, “is at an all-time high.”
In the final year of his #Steelers contract, James Conner says it's hard to imagine playing for any other team.https://t.co/7Hl5kZiwAj
— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) May 20, 2020
The most recent – and only – sustained stretch of health for Conner as an NFL starter came over the first half of the 2018 season when he was asked to fill in for Le’Veon Bell during Bell’s contract dispute. Conner had 1,085 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns during an eight-game stretch.
The Steelers lost only two of those contests. Over the two sustained stretches of Conner’s career in which he’s stayed healthy, the Steelers are an aggregate 9-2-1 and Conner has 14 touchdowns and 1,520 yards from scrimmage in those 12 games.
“James Conner is doing what James Conner does,” receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said. “This is nothing new; this is what you get out of him.”
Conner ranks eighth among running backs this season in yards per carry at 4.9. That’s better than the 4.8 of the much-ballyhooed NFL rushing leader Henry, whose Tennessee Titans (5-0) host the Steelers (5-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Conner is 11th in the NFL in rushing yards per game (73.8), he’s tied for fifth with three rushes of 20 yards or more and tied for the best fumble rate in the league at 0.0% among his 87 touches.
“The start of the season he’s having is a credit to him,” linebacker and reigning team MVP T.J. Watt said. “We get to see the stuff he does at practice on a regular basis, and nobody is surprised by his success.”
@KGorman_Trib: Throw whatever it is you have at James Conner. He's ready for it. #Steelers https://t.co/3gdwY3mOCi
— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) May 23, 2018
Some of the more advanced metrics and stats services are complimentary to Conner, too. He’s fourth in the league in rushing yards over expected per attempt (1.12), per NFL Next Gen Stats. Footballoutsiders.com pegs Conner as the NFL’s fifth-best running back in 2020 based on their DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) metric. Pro Football Focus calculates Conner with the 12th-most yards after contact per attempt (3.15).
“He is playing with confidence and he’s having fun playing the game,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s not like all the sudden he is this new running back. He’s James Conner. He’s the running back that we all in this locker room and this building believed in and knew that he could do this and never doubted him. We are just excited for the way he is playing the game right now.”
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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at cadamski@triblive.com or via Twitter .
Categories: Sports | Steelers/NFL
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