Connor Heyward gets storybook first NFL touchdown in hometown of Atlanta

ATLANTA, Ga — Steelers rookie Connor Heyward getting his first career touchdown in Atlanta against the Falcons on Sunday had something of a storybook feel to it.

The wide-open 17-yard grab by the Duluth, Georgia native was Pittsburgh’s first touchdown of the day against Atlanta after settling for a pair of field goals on earlier marches. But, the score also happened to come in the same city where his father — former University of Pittsburgh fullback Craig “Ironhead” Heyward — played for three years and made his only Pro Bowl.

Connor, the younger brother of Steelers defensive captain Cam Heyward, posted a photo on Instagram at his father’s gravesite Saturday. Craig died in May 2006, at age 39, after a cancerous tumor metastasized to his brain.

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