Dunlap: Heath Miller Quietly A Steelers Force
Don't forget Heath Miller.
Sure there's Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger. There's even Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton.
But don't forget Heath Miller.
What the 32-year-old tight end did Sunday --- heck, what he's done all season --- has been a study in dogged perseverance tinged with a heavy dose of reinventing himself.
Certainly this 2014 Steelers offense has shown a penchant to score points, as was the case with the 42 it flashed against the Bengals on Sunday in a win.
They can do it with a flare and flicker on the ground, as Bell is apt to jolt through the second level and find his way running free in the secondary.
The offense can also do it through the air, with showy and eye-catching displays wherein one of the aforementioned receivers runs under a perfectly thrown Big Ben ball as the crowd rises in elation.
But don't forget about Heath Miller.
Through all of that, there has been the assembly line-like productivity of Miller, who lines up for a snap, generally carries out his assignment with quiet precision then picks himself up off the turf.
Huddle, line up and repeat; doing so in an unassuming method that befits his personality.
There's a way this Steelers' offense has seemingly taken on an extravagant and borderline-ostentatious personality, with Brown never afraid to show emotion and those young players around him prone to celebrate after the most innocuous gains.
Paying attention to only those displays would be a disservice -- don't forget about Heath Miller.
Against the Bengals, Heath Miller caught a solitary pass.
It was a touchdown that put the Steelers up, 7-0, and was just the second time this season he found the end zone.
But from this vantage, the little pass that Miller pulled in to put the Steelers ahead early in the second wasn't nearly his finest display on the afternoon.
That came much later.
With the Steelers trailing, 21-20, in the early stages of the fourth quarter and the ball on the Bengals' 13 on a first-and-10, it was Miller that they went to --- in a way.
You see, the play was a handoff to Bell, who waited for Miller to come across the formation after the snap before cutting it up behind the tight end. At the scrimmage line, Miller knocked Adam Jones --- who had an angle on Bell --- out of position to make a tackle, drove into Jones and finally finished him around the goal line.
As Bell catapulted over the goal line, Miller sent Jones careening across that cold Ohio turf.
Steady, persistent and tireless --- that's how Miller operated on that play as he cleared a path for Bell. In a lot of ways, that's been a deeper strength of Miller the past two seasons after his ability as a vertical pass-catcher has been largely stolen from him via injury.
In some ways, Miller has become a glorified tackle, not the big-time pass-catching threat he was in 2009 when he pulled in 76 passes or the target he was in 2012 when he grabbed 71 passes for more than 800 yards.
No, since that Week 16 injury in 2012 when Miller ripped up his knee there has been a noticeable decrease in his speed, his yards after catch don't pile up as would-be tacklers pile on his back anymore going for a ride before they can drag him down.
This is a different Heath Miller now, no question.
Not as fast, doesn't catch as many passes, can't shed all those tacklers like he used to --- but don't forget about Heath Miller.
I have been told by some close to Miller that his body has become more than creaky and rusty; the pounding and thumping it has taken this season is among the worst he has absorbed in his NFL career.
One can deduce this NFL road can't be all that much longer for Miller.
So while the Steelers are still alive for the playoffs, it's easy to point to Roethlisberger or Brown or Bell as the biggest reasons why.
But don't forget Heath Miller.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weeknights from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
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