There is a monster, and that monster is me.
I don’t know if I got that Simpsons quote exactly right (that show has been on for a billion years), but I believe it accurately describes me and my perception of Steelers’ running back James Conner following his lackluster performance during a 26-16 Week 1 victory over the Giants.
James Conner delivers a stiff arm in his latest 100 yard game. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
In that game, Conner carried the football just six times for nine yards and wound up exiting with an ankle injury, an occurrence that paved the way for second-year man Benny Snell Jr. to carry the football 19 times for 113 yards.
Coming on the heels of back-to-back-back injury-filled seasons for the fourth-year man out of the University of Pittsburgh, I was pretty much over Conner and his fragility.
- But maybe I should just get over myself.
Conner followed up his uninspiring 2020 debut with a 100-yard day in a 26-21 win over the Broncos at Heinz Field in Week 2. Two more such performances have followed for Conner since, and he’s clearly the alpha dog in Pittsburgh’s backfield.
James Conner has rushed for 369 yards through the first five games of the 2020 campaign for the undefeated Steelers and is averaging 4.9 yards per carry. And if you take away Conner’s Week 1 fiasco (and I realize you can’t, but hear me out), he’s averaging 5.2 yards per rush.
Even if you add the statistics of Conner’s first game to his overall tally (and I don’t believe you’re legally allowed to expunge them), he’s still on pace to finish 2020 with 1180 yards, earning him the first 1000-yard season of his career.
That would certainly be a desirable outcome for a Steelers’ team that has always wanted to at least be effective running the football, if not totally balanced on offense.
Unlike previous Steelers editions, they don’t seem to be intent on running Conner until the wheels fall off in 2020. But even though Snell and rookie Anthony McFarland Jr. have gotten their work in, they’ve combined for 25 carries and 102 yards since Week 2.
- The Steelers may be trying more of a running back by committee approach, but it looks like they’ve decided to go with the low-fat version, thus far.
It’s obviously still a really young 2020 regular season, and Conner might make folks like me cynical again with another injury.
But my initial hot take regarding James Conner — head coach Mike Tomlin was playing favorites and Benny Snell Jr. had passed him by on the depth chart — has not aged well.
Maybe Mike Tomlin knows more than me after all.
