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In his second season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, running back James Conner has emerged as a star in the league behind his impressive level of production.
However, one area of his game that has caught some attention over the last few days for Conner has become his ball security as he had a costly fumble against the Denver Broncos in last Sunday's 24-17 loss. Despite that, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has voiced little concern over that becoming a lingering issue for the 23-year-old, according to Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk.
“I will acknowledge that as a feature ball carrier in this league, when you got some tape with some balls on the ground that people use that as motivation,” Tomlin said. “I know we do. We’re playing a feature runner and in recent weeks he’s got balls on the ground, Wednesday morning that’s being discussed. That’s the nature of my conversation with James. Just understand how the other 31 teams function. That in L.A. somewhere tomorrow morning, they’ll be talking about his balls on the ground. I’ll be excited abou watching his response to that.”
This hasn't been a glaring issue for Conner, but he now has fumbled four times this year with two of them being lost. The other lost one came in the season opener against the Cleveland Browns while the two other instances have seen him be able to keep possession.
It is clearly an area that Conner wants to avoid becoming a trend, but for the most part, he has been quite sure-handed with the ball in his hands while making numerous big plays down the field. He has been putting together a breakout campaign as he's third in the NFL with 849 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns along with making 49 receptions for 453 receiving yards and a touchdown.
His production has tailed off in the last three weeks, but he should have an opportunity to get back on track in Week 13 action against the Los Angeles Chargers.
