Pittsburgh Steelers rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. was PFF’s highest-graded cornerback in Week Five, intercepting Lamar Jackson and all season, Porter’s been a lockdown cornerback when he’s on the field. He’s allowing a passer rating against of 0.0, and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin thinks that Porter has earned more work, especially against the Rams, who have run 11 personnel 73% of the time.
“I would think so,” Austin said when asked if Porter could see the field more this week. “There’s an opportunity for him to get more work on the field. He’s been steadily progressing, each week he’s gotten a little bit more. And he’s done a good job with it. So we’ll see how it goes this week, but he probably can anticipate it because they’ve been throwing the ball quite a bit,” Austin added via audio provided by the Steelers PR Department.
Austin also said that the Steelers moving Porter into more of their base defense instead of just making him a dime corner is due to their confidence in him and less about their lack of confidence in fellow corners Levi Wallace and Patrick Peterson.
“I think it means that we’re just a little bit satisfied with how Joey’s progressing. I think you look at in that way, that he’s making strides and we feel confident enough in and comfortable enough to put him in the game in other than third-down situations,” Austin said.
Porter’s earned more reps with his play on the field, and while Wallace and Peterson have struggled, with how Porter has played he should be getting more reps regardless. It helps that the opportunity can come naturally this week with the Rams’ penchant for running 11 personnel and having more receivers on the field, but even if that wasn’t the case, Porter needs to become a regular member of Pittsburgh’s secondary.
Porter very briefly replaced an injured Levi Wallace in Week Three against the Las Vegas Raiders, but Week Five was the first time non-injury related that Porter got snaps outside of Pittsburgh’s dime package. It sounds like that will continue to be the case, even if he supplants one of Wallace or Peterson at times. He’s been the Steelers’ best cornerback, and given Pittsburgh’s struggles in coverage, it only makes sense to give him a bigger role and see if he can keep up his high level of play.
That first opportunity is going to come on Sunday, and the Rams have a trio of receivers the Steelers will need to stop in Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell, who all have been really solid contributors for the Rams when they’re on the field. That raises the importance for not just Porter, but also Wallace and Peterson to step up against a potent offensive attack led by QB Matthew Stafford.
