It took until the fifth week of the season but the Pittsburgh Steelers finally expanded rookie CB Joey Porter Jr.’s role. So what changed? Porter spoke about the bump in snaps in the second half of Sunday’s win over the Baltimore Ravens, where he picked off the first pass of his career in clutch fashion, an end-zone snag that kept the Steelers’ hopes alive.
After the game, Porter told reporters that coaches said at halftime his role would change.
“They just told me they were going to give me a little bit more series in the game,” he said via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s YouTube page. “Because I really wasn’t playing a lot the first half. I think I got about four snaps. They just wanted to keep me warm.”
For the first half, Porter played his normal role he’s maintained through the first four weeks of the season. That meant only playing in dime packages. And as he says, it resulted in him hardly seeing the field as the Ravens’ run game stayed on schedule, churning out yardage to stay out of third-and-long.
With Levi Wallace and Patrick Peterson taking their lumps in coverage and as tacklers, Pittsburgh made a change at the half. While we’ll have to chart the game to detail exactly how roles were rearranged, Porter saw snaps in base and in the team’s nickel defense. At one point, CB Levi Wallace came off the field while in another, Patrick Peterson either came off or shifted over to right cornerback.
Porter came up large with a jump-ball interception on a Lamar Jackson pass intended for WR Odell Beckham Jr. with the Ravens leading 10-8 with only a couple of minutes to go. It erased the misery of WR Gunner Olszewski’s punt return fumble and gave the Steelers new life. It was the first pick of Porter’s career, and he told reporters he expected to be targeted on third down as a rookie matched up against a veteran.
For the first time, Pittsburgh understood that playing Porter in dime-only situations meant that game circumstance and offenses could dictate how much he played. Teams like San Francisco, Houston, and Baltimore in the first half could use the run game to avoid third-and-long, situations where Pittsburgh would use Porter. Using him in base and dime puts Porter on the field regardless of down and distance.
After the game, CB Patrick Peterson called Porter the player of the game. Without that play, it’s unlikely the Steelers are entering their off week with a win and division lead.
Given his big play, it’ll be impossible to relegate him to the reduced role he had played before today. Now, the Steelers will have a bye week to determine his snaps going forward. It’s clear those are going upward, not backward.
