PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Ben Roethlisberger said the offense is doing what the fans and media have asked, they are balanced, and he believes they can throw it more if needed. Ben said they are led on the ground by the best James Conner ever.
"I think his game right now is at an all-time high," Roethlisberger said on Wednesday.
"The thing I always keep telling him is just have fun. When he has fun, he plays great football."
Conner rushed for over 100 yards three times this year and only once has he reached 20 carries. The 25-year-old also has touchdowns in four straight games.
"As for the career I'm not sure, it's been a short career so far," Conner said after the game Sunday when asked if it was the best stretch of his career. "I just try to run hard. I just try to execute trust what I see; run hard."
"I will throw numbers out because to me it doesn't matter if he runs for 100 yards or whatever he's doing, he's running efficiently," Roethlisberger said.
Then the 17-year Steelers quarterback gave us a list of all the former Pitt All-American is doing right.
"He's scoring touchdowns when we get close to the goal line. He's giving us first downs when we need those. He's picking up blitzes. He's catching the ball out of the backfield when we need him to. And he's getting the tough yards when we need that as well."
Roethlisberger said Conner took a lot of pride this off-season in getting himself in the best shape he could and quipped that he spent some time at the Ben Roethlisberger footwork camp.
"I just think he's playing with confidence and he's having fun playing the game," Roethlisberger said. "It's not like all of a sudden he's this new running back. He's James Conner. He's the running back we all in this locker room and in this building believed in and knew he could do this and never doubted him."
"We're just excited for the way he is playing the game right now."
