Pittsburgh’s top (present) running back was injured on “Sunday Night Football.”
Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Conner left Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers after sustaining a lower leg injury late in the fourth quarter. Conner went down hard and stayed down for some time, before being helped off the field with assistance from team trainers. Head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters after the game that Conner suffered a lower leg contusion.
Although there is no official word beyond that, the injury is not expected to be serious:
On #Steelers RB James Conner: My understanding is the injury is not to his ankle and not considered major at all. Coach Mike Tomlin called it a contusion and it seems like he'll be OK, based on early impressions. How much it swells will be telling.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 3, 2018
Conner was quickly escorted to the locker room for further testing. He was quickly listed as questionable to return. Veteran running back Stevan Ridley and rookie Jaylen Samuels are Conner’s primary backups on the depth chart. Right after Conner’s injury, Samuels caught two passes, including a 10-yard touchdown that tied the game.
That was the Steelers’ final drive — the Chargers marched down the field for a game-winning field goal as time expired. Conner did not return.
Conner has been a breakout player in his second year with the Steelers, effectively filling the role of Le’Veon Bell in a way that absolutely nobody (except perhaps Steelers coaches) could have predicted. He runs well and he’s a lethal receiving target for Ben Roethlisberger— just as Bell was before his holdout — and has had a healthy workload all season.
This season, Conner had carried the ball 201 times for 909 yards (4.5 yards per carry average) and 12 touchdowns while catching 52 passes for 467 yards and a touchdown. Pittsburgh’s second-leading rusher is Roethlisberger with just 94 yards, so any missed time for Conner would be significant for a team in the midst of a playoff race.