The Ben to Heath connection

Wow what a performance from these two in the 1st quarter. It was a thing of beauty watching Ben beat down the Pats secondary with our tight end. Killing them at their own game. I loved it

 

Heath could do that to almost every team if the Steelers wanted to utilize him more in the passing game.

 

AGREED!!!

 

Each time they blitzed, Heath was the hot read and never let Ben down. Great to see Miller perform like this and have a bunch of throws his way!

 

My impression has always been that Miller has great, reliable hands, but isn't the quickest once in possession. For some reason, he's been used over the last few years on screens and in the flat, where he would make the catch and then be expected to fake out defenders. Which, by and large, he wasn't agile enough to. Once he's got momentum, though, he's a tough bugger to bring down. I liked what I saw yesterday, a lot.

 

It was a thing of beauty!!! I hope to see this utilized more and more in the weeks to come. If it aint broke, dont try and fix it!!!!

 

Loved it! My question is why didn't they keep with it in the second half? We started going deeper later in the game and Ben missed on some crucial throws. The short, over the middle throws are "easy" and if the other team is going to give you those 10 -15 yard plays, I say take them and keep taking them until they take 'em away. Also, got to do a better job of getting into the end zone. Had over 400 yards of offense, had numerous long time consuming drives, totally dominated the game yet scored only 2 TDs. This game was definitely a step in the right direction but we still need to get better.

 

We were speaking about this earlier last week in a thread. I for one am ecstatic the way they hooked up in the first. My only complaint is that I thought it should be there again in the second half after they adjusted and ben started spreading it around and the run game got going a little bit. However, it seemed like they never got back to it. I am not complaining because from my perspective this was a huge improvement in the utilization of heath. I also think enough went on film that other teams cannot ignore it. We out patrioted the patriots. Beautiful!

 

It would have been great to see them using Heath more in the 2nd. I hope they take note for next week with the Ratbirds.

 

The thing that I think is awesome is that we beat the patsies, and we can still find things to improve. If this team continues to grow and develop this season they are going to be downright scary!

 

I, too, agree with the sentiment. I think Ben and Heath could destroy teams if they continue to utilize this type of passing. Heath seems to be open on, almost, every play (which amazes me considering the size of the guy). I hope this is something that they carry over to the Ravens game because, frankly, I don't think the Ravens can cover it!

 

Agree 100% about the red zone. I suspect that between during the second Patriots possession (early 2nd Qtr) the Patriot coaches made an adjustment to their plan in their Def. secondary. Heath's catches went way down after this possesion. However, this may also be one of the reasons that the wideouts for Pittsburgh were open for the rest of the game.

 

This team has been misusing Heath Miller for a long time. I know they appreciate his abilities but once this offensive line started to decline in Ben's 3rd year (after his first SB) Miller was needed to protect and does great because he's the best all around TE in the league. If the line wasn't so bad he might be more well known. But, that is not nearly as important as maximizing his talents.

WHY WHY WHY is he only used in streaks? Usually always at the beginning to sustain a scoring drive or two and then once or twice again in the second half. If he was used even just a little more this new passing game would be even more dangerous. I always think maybe they are lulling other teams into looking past him until the post season then they will surprise everyone with this huge weaopn. Especially in the end zone. But no! Same old same old story. In 2005 he scored a bunch of TD's. We used to not use him until the red zone and that pissed me off too. That's better than this though. What happened? Whiz vs. Ariens? Cower vs. Tomlin?

We should have used him in those red zone FG's yesterday. The end wouldn't have been so scary and the win would have been even more convincing.

 

And it only took them 6 and a half years to figure it out! Nice job!

 

The sad thing is the Heath was able to go out on routes because the Pats pass rush stinks. Next week Baltimore comes in...I doubt we see Heath do the same thing next week because he will be in to block the whole time.

 

I remember watching the DVD of the Superbowl 40 run, and was surprised just how many games Miller came up with the clutch play. In his rookie year, of all things. What you say about the o-line declinign afterwards is true.

 

You would think that a dangerous TE would ease the pressure a bit.