The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: How much will the Steelers use CB Joey Porter Jr. to shadow an opponent’s top receiver?
Just a week after getting his first official start, rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. got his first specialized assignment: neutralize WR DeAndre Hopkins.
While Nuk isn’t quite at the height of his powers at this stage of his career, that is still no easy task. By and large, Porter acquitted himself well, minus some penalties, some of which were partly a product of Hopkins’ physicality.
The question moving forward, however, is how often this happens against future opponents. After the fact, coaches have said that part of the reason they allowed Porter to follow Hopkins around the field was because it aided their game plan in other areas as well. That included limiting his role as a tackler in run support.
Coaches have also said, however, that it’s always good to have a cornerback who is capable of doing that, and if you have one, you use him. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin noted that he had Darius Slay when he was coaching the Detroit Lions. The Steelers want Porter to be their Slay.
The 32nd-overall draft pick is now up to 268 defensive snaps played on the season, the good majority of them—182—coming in just the past three games since the bye week. He has four passes defensed on the season, including a red-zone interception, along with 17 total tackles.
And his strength is in his ability to hold up in man coverage. That is what the Steelers have been asking him to do, primarily. He has been playing a higher percentage of snaps in man coverage than anybody else in the division except for the Cleveland Browns’ Greg Newsome II at 42.6 percent. And he has by far the best coverage grade in man coverage in the division. In fact, he has the second-best coverage grade in man among all qualifying cornerbacks in the NFL, behind the Cowboys’ DaRon Bland.
