The Pittsburgh Steelers almost found themselves in a precarious situation at quarterback for at least one play Monday night in their 16-13 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
After quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had left the game in the third quarter with his shoulder injury, backup Byron Leftwich landed awkwardly on his back and head after throwing on his first play in the game. Leftwich was very slow getting up and looked like he might have to leave the game for at least a play to clear the cobwebs as a result. With third-string quarterback Charlie Batch inactive for the game, the Steelers would have had to use another player on the roster to run a play.
Tunch Ilkin, the color man for the Steelers Radio Network, said after that play that wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery was the emergency third quarterback, but apparently that wasn\’t the case. Wide receiver Antonio Brown said Tuesday night during his radio show that tight end Heath Miller would have been the next man up at quarterback, not Cotchery.
Many might already know that Miller was originally recruited by the University of Virginia as a quarterback, but was moved to the tight end position during his redshirt freshman year.
During his career at Honaker High School, Miller played both quarterback and safety and was ranked as the No. 15 player in the state by SuperPrep as a senior. As a junior, Miller passed threw for 1,872 yards and 26 touchdowns, and rushed for 643 yards and 12 touchdowns on the way to leading his school to an 11-2 record that season. As a senior, the Steelers tight end threw for over 1,500 yards and 19 touchdowns and rushed for 901 yards.
Now I doubt that Miller gets any snaps at quarterback in practice, so he likely would have just handed off to a running back or rushed up the middle himself had a situation like that ended up taking place Monday night.
Not only is Miller one of the most underrated all-around tight ends in the league, he can play quarterback in a pinch as well. Can Rob Gronkowski do that?
