Watch: James Conner’s big day begins with dive into the endzone

Steel City Underground will pick a play of the game from each side of the ball each week of the Steelers 2018 season. Stay tuned as we hand select the very best from the black and gold!

Throughout the week leading up to Sunday afternoon’s game, the Steel City Underground crew had been in heavy discussion about how the Pittsburgh Steelers had abandoned the run in their loss to the Baltimore Ravens and why establishing it would be an important key to beating the Atlanta Falcons. The Steelers received the opening kickoff after the Falcons deferred and when the offense came onto the field, they surprised all of us by going run-heavy with a dose of James Conner that was enough to draw first blood.

This was a Steelers offense that hadn’t converted a first down in its opening possession thus far in the 2018 NFL regular season, but that didn’t stop them from marching 78 yards on eight plays. Conner carried the ball six times for 43 yards before catching a pass he was able to turn into a 29-yard gain thanks to a nice block from tight end Vance McDonald. Conner capped off the drive with a one-yard dive across the goal line for the touchdown. He scored two rushing touchdowns on the day and racked-up 110 yards on 21 carries and 74 yards on four-of-four passes targeting him.