Too good to pass up
After Lamar Miller put on a show for the Dolphins, he became a must-get.
IN a spitting rain in the Miami suburbs Oct. 25, 2015, Lamar Miller took a handoff from Ryan Tannehill on the Dolphins’ third play from scrimmage, threaded a needle in the middle of the Texans’ defense at the line of scrimmage and gained 13 yards. Miller had no inkling at the time, but he had just embarked upon one of the most impressive — and, consequently, lucrative — auditions in NFL history.
Needing only 14 carries and three receptions over a single half of football, Miller left the Texans prostrate and effectively launched the process that led to his becoming one of them, the Texans’ new $6.5 million man.
General manager Rick Smith’s cranial wheels likely began turning while Miller, then in the final year of his Dolphins’ rookie contract, piled up 175 yards rushing — 85 coming on a touchdown burst off right tackle. He also reeled in a 54-yard touchdown pass.
In large part because of his heroics — only one other back ran for as many as 100 yards against Romeo Crennel’s defense in 2015 — Miami had built a 41-0 halftime lead. Fortunately, at least from the Texans’ dazed perspective, he wasn’t called upon to inflict further harm or shame thereafter.
“It was a special game for me, one of the best games of my career,” Miller said. “I got the ball in space and was able to make big plays. Hopefully, I can do the same thing here.”
“That’s why he’s here,” receiver Cecil Shorts said when asked to recall the worst 30 minutes of what turned into a modestly successful regular season.
The Texans went 9-7 before reverting to their South Florida form in a 30-0 playoff loss to Kansas City.
Close-knit family
The Texans cut their ties to the oft-injured Arian Foster soon thereafter — Foster’s a Dolphin now — and targeted Miller, who admits he had assumed he would remain in Miami, the only home he has known. He grew up in the area, went on to star for the University of Miami, then was drafted in the fourth round by the Dolphins in 2012.
But when his agent told him what kind of money the Texans were offering, any hint of homesickness dissipated.
“It’s great,” Miller said. “Since day one, the Texans, the organization, the fans, they’ve all welcomed me with open arms. I’m comfortable here. No complaints at all.”
Miller, 25, signed a four-year, $26 million deal with a $14 million chunk guaranteed, which will buy a lot of round-trip plane tickets between Houston and Miami. And he admits he was going back every weekend during organized team activities because he comes from a close-knit family. His only sibling is an olde it Shanice, 28, who’s attend nursing school. Even in s a Dolphin, he’d go after pr Fridays to have a late lunc visit with his parents.
“At first, I was nervous Lamar told us he’d decide play for the Houston Texa said his mother, Yvette, a care professional in the M area. “He is my baby and going off to a new place fo first time. It was very har But now I’m kind of excit it. It’s a chance for us to co a new city and experience things, meet some new pe
Father knows best
Note that she was quic admit she also had been n when her husband, Edga drives a sanitation truck f Metro Dade County, conf signed Lamar up to play p football at 7.
“I wasn’t a big fan,” she “I didn’t want him to play dad insisted, pushing the with me, saying he neede busy. So I agreed. After th was pretty much sports, s sports all the time for Lam
Added Lamar: “In Mia there’s a lot of things to ge into that are hard to get ou My parents made me surr myself with positive peop By my second year (of playing football), once I started doing stuff like scoring touchdowns, my mom started to get more comfortable and enjoy it more.”
Early on, Miller realized he had special gifts that would serve him well and keep Yvette from turning into a nervous wreck. If he ran fast enough and away from trouble, he would never get hit hard, if at all. His speed is obvious to anybody who sees him play. But what he sees is no less important. Ask him what his best attribute is and he won’t say his legs.
Instead, he says, “my vision.” It enables him to ferret out trouble before it finds him.
He dared the Texans to catch him if they could. They couldn’t. It was as if they were chasing a specter. Just two of Miller’s carries gained fewer than 5 yards and, after the second of those, he atoned on the ensuing play with his 54-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
Then-Texans safety Rahim Moore, who was never again active after that debacle, wonders where Miller went.
Coach in awe
“Sitting up in the coaching booth that day,” Texans running backs coach Charles London said, “I was really in awe of some of the stuff he did against us, and I’ve always been a fan of his. We’ve watched him from afar because we study other backs around the league. We always thought he might be somebody who could help us, who could do some good things in our offense, with his skill set. When the opportunity presented itself and we had a chance to go get him, we went forward with it.
“Each day we’ve been in pads he’s gotten a little more comfortable. Now he’s starting to see things the way we want him to see them. He’s explosive, and he’s a really great kid. He studies hard. He doesn’t say a whole lot, but when he speaks people listen and he asks really good questions.”
Foster did, too. But sometimes Foster strayed off course, challenging convention. The NFL’s 2010 rushing champion wasn’t the easiest personality to rein in, although London insists the guy who bickered with the media wasn’t the Foster he saw in team meetings. Although Foster might have thought he was the smartest guy in the room, London swears he tried not to act like it.
Similar yet different
“We appreciated Arian,” London said with a smile before quickly turning the conversation back to Miller. “Lamar is a complete back like Arian, but he does it in a different way. He’s a smaller guy and much faster but also really intelligent (like Foster). He did a great job coming in here from the start and learning the (running plays) and learning our protections. He’s a great pass protector.”
Nice to hear, of course, but Bob McNair didn’t pay that kind of money for a pass protector. It’s a given Miller’s multiple talents will be integral, if not essential, to new quarterback Brock Osweiler’s swimming rather than sinking. The Texans understood they needed an upgrade over Foster’s oft-used understudy, Alfred Blue, a reliable, good-guy role player but hardly a game-changer.
Bonding with Blue
Blue gets it, too. He understands the business. He recognizes his personal limitations.
“I just told Lamar, ‘Welcome to the team,’ ” Blue said. “‘You’re a Texan now. We’re teammates. We’re brothers. We’re playing for one goal and that’s to get to the Super Bowl in our home stadium. Forget where you came from. You’re one of us now. Let’s grind together and win together.’ Actually, we have similar personality traits. (He’s) quiet, stays to himself a little. Me and him, we have bonded good.”
But they are dissimilar running backs, which Blue sees as advantageous.
“When we play different teams, we’ll keep defenses offbalance,” said Blue (6-2, 222). “You’ve got a bigger back in me and a shiftier, faster back in La- mar. Aone-two punch going at a defense can wear it down. They’ll get a bruiser coming at them, then they’ll get somebody fast who can take it the distance.”
That the Texans most assuredly know Miller (5-10, 225) can do. What does he personally remember about the game, a tour de force by any measure? He responded with humility, perhaps speaking volumes about his makeup, his character.
“In my opinion,” he said, “(the Texans) just came out sluggish. It was raining. The conditions were tough. But, yeah, it surprised me a little, I guess. After halftime, they regrouped and the defense started clicking more.”
Miller’s mother was watching from the stands. His parents have rarely missed any of his games, home or away.
“I was on my feet almost the whole time,” Yvette said. “Then I remember we went to dinner together afterwards and I told him how proud I was of him.”
The Millers will make their first trip to Houston after the Texans return from the Bay Area following the preseason opener against the San Francisco 49ers next Sunday. She plans to stay about a month to help him get settled.
Cowboys fan growing up
The family has resigned itself to the fact Houston is his new home. Although he always thought he’d re-sign with the Dolphins, Miller turned the page when they declined to match the Texans’ offer. “It was great to play at home in Miami for as long as I did,” he said. “Being drafted by the Dolphins was an opportunity I never dreamed would happen. Playing professional football in front of my family and my friends was a great experience.” But Miller confesses that Texas was always at least a little bit on his mind. Not the Texans, though. “Growing up,” he said, “I didn’t want to be a Dolphin. I loved Deion Sanders and Emmitt Smith. My favorite team was always the Dallas Cowboys.” A forgivable offense? Easily, if he follows up on the tweet he sent March 9, the day he became a free agent: “I’m tryna make next year the greatest story ever told. #Dreambig.”