Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Heath Miller is off to a tremendous start in 2012 as he has registered 15 catches for 129 yards to go along with 4 touchdowns, but Philadelphia Eagles tight end Brett Celek, who the Steelers will face this Sunday at Heinz Field, is also off to a hot start as well.
Celek enters the week 5 game against the Steelers with 18 receptions for 315 yards which equates to an amazing 17.5 yards per catch. That puts him second on the Eagles team in both receptions and yardage behind wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who only has 2 more receptions and 18 more receiving yards than Celek does.
While Celek has yet to find the end zone this season, he has caught over 60% of the passes thrown his way from quarterback Michael Vick and 11 of his catches have moved the chains, while 14 of his catches have come on first or second down.
The 17.5 yards per catch number that Celek carries into this Sunday is a result of him having 8 receptions of more than 20 yards. The Eagles have 18 explosive plays through the air so far this season, so you can see that Celek has accounted for nearly half of them.
One other interesting nugget on Celek is that 154 of his 315 receiving yards have come after the catch.
The Steelers have had their hands full so far with tight end position through the first three games of the season as opposing tight ends have combined to catch 16 passes for 151 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Covering Celek with a linebacker is asking for trouble and if he is allowed to just find soft areas against a zone defense, you can bet that he will. It will be interesting to see how the Steelers defend him this week, especially on early downs, because Vick is certainly not shy about using the Cincinnati product.
Celek is a huge part of the Eagles offense and keeping him in check on Sunday will go along way in the Steelers attempt to win this game.
