Steelers tight end Heath Miller earned his second trip to the Pro Bowl Tuesday, along with being named Team MVP by his teammates on Wednesday. The awards are a silver lining to a tumultuous week that saw Miller have surgery to repair a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee.
It was also a week in which Miller finally got the recognition he deserves.
It’s hard not to like a player of Miller’s caliber, the Steelers’ under the radar yet always dependable tight end. Ever since he came to Pittsburgh in 2005, Miller has been one on the NFL’s most consistent tight ends, but has never got the national recognition that other tight ends like New England’s Rob Gronkowski and San Diego’s Antonio Gates have received.
This season, Miller emerged as Ben Roethlisberger’s go-to guy, catching 71 passes for 816 yards and eight touchdowns before his season came to an end last Sunday against the Bengals. Those 71 catches currently lead the team, and his eight touchdowns are tied for the team lead with Mike Wallace.
However, Miller’s impact this season has less to do with stats and more to do with his reliability. While the “young money” receiving core of Wallace, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders struggled at different points of the season, Miller was always a guy that you could rely on to make the big catch when his team needed it.
Miller’s impact was no more evident than it was Sunday when he went down with the injury that would end his season. Defensive end Brett Keisel came off the sidelines to help carry Miller off the field, along with several defensive players such as Casey Hampton and Troy Polamalu coming off the bench to offer support to their teammate.
Heath Miller is one of the good guys, not only on the Steelers, but in the entire NFL. He is a throwback to the old days of professional football, a player who goes about his business quietly and without the flash that most players in today’s NFL walk around with. In a game where all most players care about is their next big contract (looking at you Mike Wallace), Miller is all about team first.
It’s easy to see why fans and teammates alike are fond of Miller, and even though a trip to the Pro Bowl and being voted Team MVP are probably something that he will downplay, it’s nice to see him finally get credit for all the great work he has put in the last eight seasons. Perhaps coach Mike Tomlin said it best on Monday, saying that Miller’s injury was “an unfortunate injury to a man who gave us everything he had all season. “
No one would argue with Tomlin on that.
