Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Conner had another great game in the team’s Sunday home win over the Cleveland Browns and on Wednesday he was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for Week 8 for his efforts.
Conner, the Steelers second-year running back out of the University of Pittsburgh, rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns in addition to catching 5 passes for another 66 yards in the team’s Sunday 33-18 win over the Browns.
Conner, who now leads the AFC in rushing touchdowns with 9 and rushing yardage with 599, is also currently fifth in the NFL in total combined yards from scrimmage with 922.
In Sunday’s win over the Browns, Conner became the first player in Steelers history to rush for two touchdowns in three consecutive games and the first player in team history to rush for at least 100 yards and two touchdowns in three straight games. He is the first NFL player to have such a streak since 2009 (Chris Johnson).
Conner’s nine rushing touchdowns in the first seven games of 2018 also tied Franco Harris (1976) for the most by a Steelers player in the first seven games of a season.
This now marks the fourth time this season a Steelers player has been named the AFC’s player of the week. Outside linebacker T.J. Watt won the AFC Defensive Player of the Week Award in Weeks 1 and 5 while quarterback Ben Roethlisberger won the AFC Offensive Player of the Week Award in Week 3.
