The city of Pittsburgh is not unfamiliar with the site of James Conner dominating inside of Acrisure Stadium—although he’d never played in it after its name was changed from Heinz Field until yesterday. And it was also the first time that he’d ever done it as a visiting opponent.
But he did it and then some, building up as the game went along, and it was no accident. In his first game in Pittsburgh since departing from the Steelers in 2021 as an unrestricted free agent, he turned in a 105-yard, two-touchdown performance that silenced the local crowd.
“Something we wanted to do coming into this game was having a goal of getting him a lot of carries because he’s such a great player”, QB Kyler Murray said of his running back, via the team’s website. “He’s a great leader for this game. We know how much it means for him to come back home and be able to do his thing, so I was super excited for him”.
It was quite arguably Conner’s best game of the season, just his second 100-yard game and his first multi-score game. He rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries all the way back in Week Two. A week later was the last time he scored, on September 24, so yesterday’s rain-soaked afternoon was really something of a breakout game, his fourth game back from injury that cost him five weeks.
A native of Erie, PA, Conner’s story will be well known by most reading this article, but he attended the University of Pittsburgh as a standout, dynamic player before a cancer diagnosis threatened to change his course.
He persevered, however, and vowed not to be a charity case. He wrote an open letter in the Players’ Tribune before the 2017 NFL Draft making it clear that he had no interest in being known as The Football Player Who Had Cancer.
And it’s never defined him on the field. A two-time Pro Bowler, he is nearing 4,500 career rushing yards and is over 6,000 yards from scrimmage with 56 touchdowns in seven seasons. The only reason that he hasn’t had a more stable, consistent career is because of injuries that have checkered his playing time both in Pittsburgh and Arizona.
After his big, closeout performance against the Steelers yesterday, however, perhaps he has enough to drive the Cardinals to the finish line this season. Now with 631 rushing yards on the season, it would be asking a lot for him to hit 1,000 on the season as Arizona has just four games left. It would be the first of his career, however, if he could manage it.
Conner was clearly emotional about his first game back in Pittsburgh since leaving the Steelers, telling reporters after the game that the lessons he learned with the team will stay with him for the rest of his life. He called it a special moment and was given the game ball. But I’m sure it was also the first time he was ever hoping to see them lose. And he was the biggest reason that they did.
