This past weekend, Joey Porter Sr. got to watch Joey Porter Jr. get his first real taste of what the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens rivalry is all about. The younger Porter grew up around the game and knows what these matchups are all about. But you don’t know it until you live it and until you play it. Though it was a classic Steelers-Ravens outcome, a last-minute win by Pittsburgh, the rivalry has lost some of its luster from its heyday.
Speaking with Arthur Moats and a crowd of Steelers’ fans prior to Sunday’s kickoff at Acrisure Stadium, Porter told the story of the mission then-head coach Bill Cowher gave him before kickoff in one of these games. The goal? Don’t let anyone from Baltimore act like they own your place.
“Coach Cowher, me and him share the same similarities,” Porter told Moats. “We don’t never wanna lose the game before it starts. He comes and gets me. We’re playing Baltimore. He’s like, ‘Peezy, come here.’ I’m like, ‘What’s up, coach? What’s going on?’ [Cowher says] ‘Look at that guy over there. He’s trying to intimidate us.’
“I’m like, ‘Who, coach?’ ‘Look at Adams.’ ‘Say no more, I got it.’ I run my ass over there to Sam. Now I’m barking. Coach sent me on a mission. He didn’t like the way Sam walked around on our field. And once he put me notice to it, I didn’t like that shit neither. I’m on the way.”
The man in question was big nose tackle Sam Adams, one of the best run stuffers of his day. Listed at 6-foot-3, 350 pounds, he looked a couple of cheeseburgers above that weight. As Porter began smack talking him, he realized the mammoth of the man he was facing but realized at this point, he was committed. That’s when he got a little help from his teammates.
“I went too far. And as I was talking, I turned around, I looked, I saw Big Hamp and Potsie behind me. And then my [confidence] grew bigger. Now I’m really [trash talking]. I turned around, I had my whole squad with me.”
For anyone unaware, that’s NT Casey Hampton and LB James Farrior Porter was referencing, two of the best in the NFL at their position (though Farrior wasn’t a Steeler when Adams was a Raven so the details here might be a little off, though the general vibe of the story is undoubtedly true). It’s a classic Steelers-Ravens story of when the rivalry was reaching its peak, which would last through the early 2010s.
Since guys like Ben Roethlisberger and Terrell Suggs have retired, the rivalry has lost some of its shine. Despite that, these games always find a way of being close and going down to the wire. And last Sunday in true Steelers’ fashion, QB Kenny Pickett led his team downfield for a game-winning drive, the second straight year he’s done it. Porter Sr. also got to watch his son record his first career interception, stepping up in a clutch moment in a big game.
Win ugly, win late. Just win. That part of the Steelers’ tradition leads on.
Catch the whole conversation between Porter and Moats below. It’s a great conversation.
