Sure, OLB T.J. Watt made his plays. As did WR George Pickens. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ stars and studs generally played as such in the team’s 18-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons Sunday afternoon. But the top players alone can’t carry a team to victory. Teams need guys like WR Scotty Miller. While he didn’t catch a pass, he did everything he could to make sure Pittsburgh left Atlanta happy.
Speaking to reporters post-game, Mike Tomlin made sure to give Miller his due.
“We had some unique contributions today, like Scotty Miller as a backup holder,” Tomlin said via the team’s YouTube Channel. “Look at your flip card, man. You don’t see a backup holder on that flip card. So we’re just really appreciative of unique skill sets that help us win.”
Seemingly no team has had to deal with emergency specialists as often as the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2008, they turned to backup LS James Harrison, an experiment with disastrous results. In 2021, K Chris Boswell was injured on a failed fake field goal and couldn’t finish the game. In 2022, P Pressley Harvin III left a game, forcing the team to use CB Cam Sutton as its emergency holder. And today, P Cameron Johnston suffered what appears to be a serious knee injury that may end his season before it barely began.
That forced Boswell to serve as the team’s fill-in punter. But it also required a holder. That’s where Scotty Miller stepped in.
Miller calmly and cleanly put down LS Christian Kuntz’s snap to allow Boswell to convert a 25-yard field goal. While that yardage might deem it a “chip shot,” field goals are an operation. A snap, a hold, a kick. Any disruption to that process can result in a miss. Had that kick gone awry, the Falcons would’ve trailed by only five instead of eight.
That wasn’t Miller’s only key special teams contribution. While Boswell should get endless credit for getting off a solid 43-yard punt, it was Miller who finished the play on the other side of the field. He ran downfield to tackle PR Avery Williams for no return, producing an acceptable 43-yard net punt.
Two plays later, pressure got to QB Kirk Cousins with CB Donte Jackson nearly making a house call the other way.
How you do the big things is how you do the little things. Miller had a fine camp getting open and making catches. But he takes as much pride in doing the little things. Stepping in as a gunner when he didn’t start there, only seeing reps after CB Darius Rush went into concussion protocol. Miller won’t be in any highlight reels or receive awards for his performance, but the team will know his value.
