The Pittsburgh Steelers lost tight end Heath Miller at the end of the 2012 season to a knee injury and while it is still unknown when he will actually be ready to play in 2013, he will play at some point. The Baltimore Ravens incurred the loss of their own star tight end on Saturday as it has been reported Dennis Pitta will miss the season because of a dislocated hip suffered during a collision with a safety during practice.
Pitta was a big part of the Ravens offense in 2012 and while fellow tight end Ed Dickson is no slouch, he certainly has a lot of slack to pick up in 2013. The Ravens like to use two tight end personnel packages quite a bit and in 2012 they did so on 219 plays. On those 219 plays, Pitta was targeted 30 times and caught 19 of them.
Pitta played 848 snaps in 2012 and while he\’ll never be regarded as one of the best blocking tight ends in the league, he is adequate. As far as his loss in the passing game goes, the Ravens targeted him a total of 93 times and his 7 touchdown receptions ranked him second behind only Torrey Smith, who had 8.
Keep in mind that the Ravens traded away Anquan Boldin during the offseason, so that\’s now two players that were responsible for 126 catches and 1,590 receiving yards that won\’t be on the field for quarterback Joe Flacco to throw to in 2013.
The Steelers can certainly relate to the Ravens woes, but at least they will have Miller back at some point and perhaps even by the opener if things go perfect.
You hate to hear about any player suffering an injury and being lost for the season, especially a player like Pitta, who has established himself as one of the better tight ends in the game.
With Pitta down, veteran Billy Bajema is expected to get the first crack as the second tight end. Bajema has all of 38 catches over the course of his career and he hasn\’t registered a receiving stat since 2011 when he was with the St. Louis Rams.
