The Pittsburgh Steelers found themselves in a very difficult situation in the fourth quarter of their season opener, holding a 15-10 lead over the Atlanta Falcons. But Scotty Miller came up big for the Black and Gold in the end.
With punter Cameron Johnston, who served as the holder on field goals and extra points, injured following a gruesome hit to his lower leg, the Steelers were without a holder.
Miller came to the rescue though.
The veteran wide receiver stepped up and held on kicker Chris Boswell’s 25-yard field goal to give Pittsburgh an 18-10 lead. Corralling a bit of a high snap from long snapper Christian Kuntz, Miller got a clean ball down for Boswell to drill his sixth field goal on the day.
Turns out, Miller was always going to be the emergency holder thanks to some experience from his time in high school.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday ahead of the Week 2 matchup against the Denver Broncos, Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin shared how the Steelers landed on Miller as their emergency holder.
“I did a straw poll, man. I asked, ‘Did anybody hold in high school?’ And Scotty said, ‘Yes, I held in high school,’ but this was Thursday. And he got a little bit [of work] after practice,” Tomlin said, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “Flexibility is awesome. It’s an asset to you, it’s an asset to us. He has that in his wheelhouse. He put it on display on Thursday and he went out and put it on display on Sunday. It’s a pretty cool thing, man. But you get a lot of that around a professional football team, man. These are multi-talented guys. You’ll be surprised.
“That’s why I routinely ask, ‘Do you have any hidden tricks that I need to know about?’ Particularly when I acquire a new guy, I need to know all I can get about unique talents. And obviously that was helpful to us, man, his contributions in that area.”
Holding back in high school for Miller was a long, long time ago. Miller was last in high school in 2014, and he didn’t hold during his four years in college at Bowling Green. Nor did he hold at any point in a game during his time in the NFL, it appears.
But he had that ability in his toolbox and the Steelers needed it on Sunday.
He passed with flying colors, too.
It might seem routine, especially for a receiver, to catch a football and put it down quickly for the kicker to boot it. But it’s an entire operation, and not many can do it. The fact that Miller came off the bench cold as the holder, caught a high snap and got the ball down with ease for Boswell to bang it through? Take your hat off and hand it to him.
Hopefully Miller doesn’t have to do that again this season, especially with the Steelers adding a familiar face in punter Corliss Waitman Monday to replace Johnston. But if he’s called upon again, Miller has that skill set for the Steelers.
That’s a rather comforting feeling.
