{"id":292700,"date":"2023-09-27T14:34:10","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T14:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=292700"},"modified":"2023-09-27T14:34:10","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T14:34:10","slug":"nfl-rb-index-week-4-one-running-back-i-promise-to-stop-underestimating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/nfl\/nfl-rb-index-week-4-one-running-back-i-promise-to-stop-underestimating\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL RB Index, Week 4: One running back I promise to stop underestimating"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biggest upset so far this season came courtesy of the Arizona Cardinals in Week 3. They absolutely stunned America and America’s Team, beating the Dallas Cowboys 28-16 in the desert.<\/p>\n

It was a team effort, no doubt, but running back James Conner was a huge part of the winning performance. He finished with 98 rush yards, including a 5-yard first-quarter touchdown, on 14 totes for an impressive 7.0 yards per carry against a Dallas defense that was ranked No. 1 overall entering Sunday’s game.<\/p>\n

I have to admit that I have overlooked Conner for quite some time. Despite posting 1,000 scrimmage yards in each of the last two seasons, I ranked him dead last in my preseason RB1 rankings. In my defense, Arizona’s offense was a huge wild card coming into 2023 after making a late quarterback change ahead of Week 1. But after watching Conner through the early going this season, I need to right my wrong this week. As of today, I will no longer underestimate him. It stops now.<\/p>\n

Conner has been the centerpiece of a Cardinals offense that’s improved each week, averaging 5.2 yards per carry through three games (ranks sixth in the league among RBs with 30+ carries). He’s produced even when defenses load up to stop him, which is a common occurrence. With the Joshua Dobbs-led passing attack not instilling fear in defenses (Arizona ranks 27th in pass yards), Conner is tied for the second-most carries against stacked boxes (17), per Next Gen Stats. He’s averaging 5.3 yards per carry in those instances, third-most among players with a minimum of 10 such carries this season. He’s also tied for the fifth-most rushing first downs (14) among all players.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Conner accounts for 28.7 percent of his team’s scrimmage yards this season, tied with Tony Pollard for fourth-highest among running backs — behind Christian McCaffrey (34.6), Bijan Robinson (33.6) and Joe Mixon (30.9) — and 10th-highest among all players.<\/p>\n

Conner is making the most of his opportunities and helped the Cardinals enter Week 4 with the sixth-best rushing offense in the NFL. I’m hopeful that he’ll continue to be a bright spot for this rebuilding squad, and I certainly won’t make the mistake of underestimating him again.<\/p>\n

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