Hard knocks won't deter TE Miller
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It's too soon to tell if Steelers tight end Heath Miller will play against the New York Jets Sunday. First, he must feel like himself again this week. Then, he must pass the doctors' tests before they will clear him to play. Neither is a certainty at this point.
What's amazing to me is that Miller said he won't have any problem getting back on the field when the time comes. He said he won't be afraid to go across the middle again, to reach for a pass from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger even if it means leaving himself defenseless, to take another big hit from a linebacker like the frightening one he took from the Baltimore Ravens' Jameel McClain Dec. 5 that left him with a concussion and forced him to sit out the Cincinnati game Sunday.
How can that be?
You saw McClain's ferocious hit, didn't you?
"This is a game I've played my whole life," Miller said moments after the Steelers took out the Bengals, 23-7, with Matt Spaeth filling in at tight end. "I can't say for sure I won't have any problems going back out there until I do it. I've never had to come back from something like this. It's my first concussion. But I don't anticipate any problems."
The hit on Miller was one of the worst I've seen. When I watched it live and then a number of times on replay, I thought for sure his neck was broken. What a blessing it was for him to be able to stand up and, though clearly dazed, walk off the field.
Miller has watched the play on tape but wouldn't say much about it. "It was a hard hit, certainly. I know it could have been worse. I'm grateful it wasn't." Nor would Miller say anything about the $40,000 fine given to McClain the day after the game. No penalty was called on the play, but NFL director of officiating Carl Johnson telephoned the NBC broadcast crew immediately after the hit to say a personal foul should have been called. "It's a league matter. I don't get into that stuff," Miller said. "That's their jurisdiction, not mine."
Right after the McClain hit, Katie Miller couldn't have cared less that a flag wasn't thrown. She is Miller's wife and is deep into a pregnancy with their second child. She was watching the game in their North Hills home and, like the rest of us, was horrified by the collision. In those first, few agonizing seconds after it happened, she, too, wondered if Miller would get up.
Steelers security chief Jack Kearney carries the phone numbers of all the players' wives and girlfriends for moments like that. As soon as Miller made it to the sideline with the team doctors, Kearney called Katie Miller and handed his cell phone to team orthopedist, Dr. Jim Bradley, who reassured her that her husband was going to be OK, that he had a concussion but no serious neck injury. Katie Miller immediately called Heath's parents, Earl and Denise, who were watching the game at their home in Swords Creek, Va., and also feared the worst.
First Published December 14, 2010 12:00 am
