2012 was a phenomenal year for Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Heath Miller, who registered 71 catches for 816 yards and 8 touchdowns, but when you go even deeper into his stats, you will find that the aforementioned stat line still doesn\’t do his Pro Bowl season justice, nor does it equate to him being ranked the 97th overall player on the Top 100 Players of 2013 list.
For starters, Miller caught 70.3% of the passes thrown to him in 2012 and that ranked him 6th overall among the tight ends that caught 30 or more passes last season.
Miller\’s team leading 368 yards gained after the catch in 2012 was second only to Jermaine Gresham of the Cincinnati Bengals, who registered 429 yards after the catch. Those same 368 yards after the catch gained by Miller accounted for 45% of his total receiving yardage.
While Miller\’s 11.5 yards per catch number was merely average when compared to all tight ends that caught 30 or more passes last season, his 8.08 yards per target number ranked him 6th overall on that same list.
As far team numbers went last season, Miller tied Mike Wallace for the team lead in receiving touchdowns with 8 and he also tied wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders in receptions of 20 yards or more with 11. Miller also led the team in first down receptions with 44 and finished just 20 receiving yards behind Wallace in total receiving yardage.
Miller of course tore up his knee in the Week 16 game against the Bengals and the hope is that he will be ready by the start of the 2013 season or shortly thereafter.
When Todd Haley was hired in 2012 to be the Steelers new offensive coordinator, he pretty much made it clear that Miller would be the centerpiece of his offense and that wound up indeed being the case. While he might already be 30 years of age, Miller remains one of the top tight ends in the league, and should he wind up missing any games next season, his shoes will be next to impossible to fill.
Table below is sortable:
2012 Tight Ends With 30 Or More Receptions
| PLAYER | TM | REC | TAR | REC% | YDS | YDS/G | YPR | YPT | TD | FD | 20+ | YAC | YAC/R | YAC% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Witten | DAL | 110 | 150 | 73.3% | 1,039 | 64.9 | 9.4 | 6.93 | 3 | 56 | 8 | 310 | 2.82 | 30% |
| Tony Gonzalez | ATL | 93 | 124 | 75.0% | 930 | 58.1 | 10 | 7.50 | 8 | 65 | 3 | 250 | 2.69 | 27% |
| Jimmy Graham | NO | 85 | 135 | 63.0% | 982 | 65.5 | 11.6 | 7.27 | 9 | 59 | 12 | 315 | 3.71 | 32% |
| Brandon Myers | OAK | 79 | 105 | 75.2% | 806 | 50.4 | 10.2 | 7.68 | 4 | 41 | 9 | 286 | 3.62 | 35% |
| Heath Miller | PIT | 71 | 101 | 70.3% | 816 | 54.4 | 11.5 | 8.08 | 8 | 44 | 11 | 368 | 5.18 | 45% |
| Greg Olsen | CAR | 69 | 104 | 66.3% | 843 | 52.7 | 12.2 | 8.11 | 5 | 42 | 11 | 252 | 3.65 | 30% |
| Jermaine Gresham | CIN | 64 | 94 | 68.1% | 737 | 46.1 | 11.5 | 7.84 | 5 | 33 | 8 | 429 | 6.70 | 58% |
| Owen Daniels | HOU | 62 | 103 | 60.2% | 716 | 47.7 | 11.5 | 6.95 | 6 | 37 | 7 | 328 | 5.29 | 46% |
| Jermichael Finley | GB | 61 | 88 | 69.3% | 667 | 41.7 | 10.9 | 7.58 | 2 | 31 | 10 | 302 | 4.95 | 45% |
| Dennis Pitta | BAL | 61 | 93 | 65.6% | 669 | 41.8 | 11 | 7.19 | 7 | 29 | 8 | 283 | 4.64 | 42% |
| Brandon Pettigrew | DET | 59 | 100 | 59.0% | 567 | 40.5 | 9.6 | 5.67 | 3 | 33 | 3 | 246 | 4.17 | 43% |
| Brent Celek | PHI | 57 | 87 | 65.5% | 684 | 45.6 | 12 | 7.86 | 1 | 32 | 10 | 330 | 5.79 | 48% |
| Rob Gronkowski | NE | 55 | 79 | 69.6% | 790 | 71.8 | 14.4 | 10.00 | 11 | 45 | 13 | 316 | 5.75 | 40% |
| Martellus Bennett | NYG | 55 | 90 | 61.1% | 626 | 39.1 | 11.4 | 6.96 | 5 | 35 | 7 | 203 | 3.69 | 32% |
| Kyle Rudolph | MIN | 53 | 93 | 57.0% | 493 | 30.8 | 9.3 | 5.30 | 9 | 34 | 5 | 288 | 5.43 | 58% |
| Jacob Tamme | DEN | 52 | 85 | 61.2% | 555 | 34.7 | 10.7 | 6.53 | 2 | 29 | 6 | 215 | 4.13 | 39% |
| Marcedes Lewis | JAC | 52 | 78 | 66.7% | 540 | 33.8 | 10.4 | 6.92 | 4 | 25 | 9 | 260 | 5.00 | 48% |
| Aaron Hernandez | NE | 51 | 84 | 60.7% | 483 | 48.3 | 9.5 | 5.75 | 5 | 27 | 5 | 230 | 4.51 | 48% |
| Antonio Gates | SD | 49 | 78 | 62.8% | 538 | 35.9 | 11 | 6.90 | 7 | 30 | 5 | 149 | 3.04 | 28% |
| Benjamin Watson | CLE | 49 | 82 | 59.8% | 501 | 31.3 | 10.2 | 6.11 | 3 | 27 | 5 | 218 | 4.45 | 44% |
| Dallas Clark | TB | 47 | 76 | 61.8% | 435 | 27.2 | 9.3 | 5.72 | 4 | 23 | 4 | 113 | 2.40 | 26% |
| Dwayne Allen | IND | 45 | 66 | 68.2% | 521 | 32.6 | 11.6 | 7.89 | 3 | 30 | 9 | 251 | 5.58 | 48% |
| Rob Housler | ARI | 45 | 68 | 66.2% | 417 | 27.8 | 9.3 | 6.13 | 0 | 17 | 5 | 186 | 4.13 | 45% |
| Jared Cook | TEN | 44 | 72 | 61.1% | 523 | 40.2 | 11.9 | 7.26 | 4 | 24 | 8 | 169 | 3.84 | 32% |
| Scott Chandler | BUF | 43 | 73 | 58.9% | 571 | 38.1 | 13.3 | 7.82 | 6 | 36 | 10 | 199 | 4.63 | 35% |
| Tony Scheffler | DET | 42 | 84 | 50.0% | 504 | 33.6 | 12 | 6.00 | 1 | 28 | 6 | 126 | 3.00 | 25% |
| Lance Kendricks | STL | 42 | 64 | 65.6% | 519 | 32.4 | 12.4 | 8.11 | 4 | 25 | 6 | 239 | 5.69 | 46% |
| Vernon Davis | SF | 41 | 61 | 67.2% | 548 | 34.3 | 13.4 | 8.98 | 5 | 26 | 12 | 174 | 4.24 | 32% |
| Joel Dreessen | DEN | 41 | 58 | 70.7% | 356 | 22.3 | 8.7 | 6.14 | 5 | 19 | 4 | 154 | 3.76 | 43% |
| Anthony Fasano | MIA | 41 | 69 | 59.4% | 332 | 20.8 | 8.1 | 4.81 | 5 | 18 | 1 | 96 | 2.34 | 29% |
| Zach Miller | SEA | 38 | 53 | 71.7% | 396 | 24.8 | 10.4 | 7.47 | 3 | 18 | 7 | 143 | 3.76 | 36% |
| Tony Moeaki | KC | 33 | 56 | 58.9% | 453 | 30.2 | 13.7 | 8.09 | 1 | 24 | 7 | 143 | 4.33 | 32% |
