Arizona Cardinals' James Conner carries ball, team to near win vs. Seattle Seahawks

For a player to whom so much is meaningful in life and who has the utmost respect from his teammates, James Conner's career milestones on Sunday were celebration-worthy.

Even if they did not come in a win.

Conner, with a single-game career high 150 rushing yards in Sunday's 21-20 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, became the Arizona Cardinals' first 1,000-yard rusher since David Johnson in 2016. In doing so, he reached 1,000 yards (1,040) for the first time in his seven-year career and established a single season personal best in rushing yards.

Playing a Seattle team with a possible playoff spot on the line, the Cardinals knew they'd have opportunities against one of the NFL's worst run defenses. As much as head coach Jonathan Gannon and his teammates wanted to get Conner — a team captain — his most yards ever, everything was set up for Conner to have himself another big game.

It went swimmingly. Conner had three runs of 20 or more yards and even factored in the passing game with four catches for 54 yards. His 29-yard touchdown run off left tackle early in the third quarter made it 13-13.

Conner reached his career high for rushing yards with that touchdown run, after which he fittingly took a bow in the end zone. It gave him 35 touchdowns as a Cardinals, the most by an Arizona player in his first three seasons with the team.

"You guys know how I feel about the guy. I mean, a true warrior, true pro," Gannon said. "I mean, can't say enough good things about James. Put the team on his back, him and '1' (quarterback Kyler Murray), made it happen."

Conner had a big season despite missing four games due to injury. After the game, Conner said he was feeling grateful.

"It's awesome, it truly is. I just want to thank, you know obviously the offensive line, everybody, all the tight ends, receivers blocking. We understood what we tried to do today and just run the ball hard," Conner said.

Conner gave a special thanks to Cardinals running backs coach Autry Denson for helping him become a better player and better man.

"We start every meeting with prayer. Obviously, you know, God is huge in my life and it's huge in his life, too. So just really, really respect Coach A.D. for just our day to day process," Conner said. "We always got something new, just trying to take us to new heights, elevate our game. And so I feel like it's no secret why I had the year I had, you know, with him being my coach."

Some running backs wear down as the season goes on. Conner only seemed to get stronger. After a 105-yard game with two touchdowns in his emotional return to Pittsburgh last month, Conner had 86 yards with a TD in a loss to the 49ers the next week and 112 combined rushing and receiving yards at Chicago (including a touchdown catch).

Last week at Philadelphia, Conner exploded for 128 yards and had a rushing and receiving touchdown, and he had another huge game Sunday.

"If the numbers look better, than I guess I got better," Conner said, asked if his stats reflected if he was feeling stronger as the season progressed.

Conner's teammates were only too happy to help their teammate meet and exceed goals.

"One of the best players I've ever played with. Love going to war with him," Murray said. "I can't really say much more about him. And the dude, he's a beast."

Offensive lineman Trystan Colon said he and his linemates had talked about getting Conner to 1,000.

"When we found that he never had 1,000 yards rushing it was crazy, but you see what kind of running back he is," offensive lineman Trystan Colon said. "I wouldn't say that it was driving us. At the end of the day we always want to run the ball well, but no, we definitely think about it, especially going into the game."

Conner said he was proud of how his teammates fought for the full 60 minutes.

"My teammates know I got their back, and they got my back for sure," Conner said. "And you know, I just try to do the right things every day and just lead by example, by actions and stuff. So if it inspires some of them, that's awesome."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals' James Conner hits 1,000 yards with big day vs. Seahawks