Opinion: Cardinals offense not the same without James Conner

James Conner (David B. King, Wikimedia Commons)

The Arizona Cardinals received a major blow in week three when their two-time Pro Bowl running back James Conner of Erie, Pennsylvania suffered a season ending knee surgery.  On Thursday night, the Cardinals had to reshuffle their backfield, and it simply was not the same.

Arizona’s running attack was limited to 89 rushing yards in a 23-20 loss to Seattle. Trey Benson of Greenville, Mississippi, who was expected to be the Cardinals’s number one back now with Conner gone, was limited to eight carries of 35 rushing yards. Arizona’s leading rusher on Thursday was in fact quarterback Kyler Murray of Bedford, Texas, who had five rushes for 41 yards.

Without Conner at running back, it was an OK performance by Murray, but not spectacular by any means. Murray completed 27 of 41 passes for exactly 200 passing yards, two touchdown passes and two interceptions.

This was the Cardinals’s fourth game of the season. They won the first two games by scores of 20-13 over the New Orleans Saints and 27-22 over the Carolina Panthers before losing 16-15 to the San Francisco 49ers (the game where Conner was carted off the field on a stretcher).

In three games this season, Conner had 32 rushes for 95 rushing yards and one touchdown. He also had eight catches for 38 receiving yards and another major score.

On a personal note, I have Conner in my fantasy football pool. I tried to pick up another running back off the waiver wire, and there was nobody there worth adding. Luckily, I have four other backs on my roster, so I added a wide receiver (Keenan Allen of the Los Angeles Chargers) for flex purposes.