Arizona Cardinals running back James Conner has been historically good when it comes to scoring rushing touchdowns this year.
When most people think of the most outstanding Arizona Cardinals players, they usually think more about Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Mel Gray, Roy “Jet Stream” Green, and so on. What Arizona isn’t known for is their running backs. A position that’s been elusive to the NFL’s oldest franchise has only seen a handful of great runners wear the Cardinal red.
Enter James Conner, a runner with an injury history, but also an incredible story of beating cancer while he was in college at the University of Pittsburgh. Conner is poised to make history as he is only four rushing scores away from tying the franchise’s single-season record (16 by David Johnson in 2016).
If Cardinals fans in 2015 thought that they had it good with the Johnson brothers (David and Chris), Conner has been far above and beyond those two.
James Conner sits five scores from Arizona Cardinals history
With five more touchdowns, Conner would become running back royalty, as the Cardinals just have never had a goal-line threat as good as Conner has been this season. On top of that, those five additional scores would tie the 22 rushing touchdowns Arizona had last year, good for third-most in team history.
The record for most team rushing scores in a season is 25, set in 1948. That was the second-consecutive the Cardinals had made the NFL Championship Game, but this time they lost to Steve Van Buren (of no relation to this author) and the Philadelphia Eagles in a blizzard. Van Buren would score the only touchdown in the fourth quarter to win the title with a 7-0 score.
Wherever Conner ends up on the rushing touchdown count at the end of the year, his efficiency will be an incredible outlier on a passing team that Cardinals fans will remember for years to come. So here’s to more repeat performances down the road from Conner.