JAMES CONNER
RUNNING BACK
The Steelers offense long ago evolved away from a
run-oriented philosophy, but for them there always has been some correlation
between running the football and winning games. Even this season, in the two
games the Steelers had lost coming into Sunday’s date with the Atlanta Falcons,
they had rushed for a combined 52 yards, and in the two games they didn’t lose
they had rushed for a combined 237 yards.
In posting a 41-17 victory over the Falcons, the Steelers
re-discovered their running attack, with the offense accounting for 131 yards
on the ground and James Conner leading the way with 110 on 21 carries (5.2
average) and two touchdowns to go along with four receptions for another 75
yards. With 185 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in 25 touches, Conner
is My Player of the Week.
Also considered were T.J. Watt, who spearheaded a
consistently fierce pass rush while finishing with eight tackles, three sacks,
and a forced fumble that was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown; Ben
Roethlisberger, who completed 19-of-29 for 250 yards, with three touchdowns,
one interception, and a rating of 112.7; Antonio Brown, who caught six passes
for 101 yards and two touchdowns; L.J. Fort, who was part of a two-man
committee filling in for an injured Vince Williams and adding six tackles, a
sack, three hits on Matt Ryan, and the recovery for a touchdown on the fumble
forced by Watt; Cam Heyward, who had three tackles and 1.5 sacks; Jordan Berry,
who averaged 47.7 yards on three punts with two of those downed at the 11 and
2-yard lines, respectively; and Tyler Matakevich, who was the other half of the
committee replacing Williams and contributing four tackles on defense and two
more on special teams.
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