As a cornerback in today’s NFL, you will take any help you can get when facing the top receivers in the game on a weekly basis.
Rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. has quickly become that guy for the Steelers, often shadowing the opposing team’s WR1 the last several weeks after getting worked into the starting lineup slowly to start the year. He’s shadowed the likes of DeAndre Hopkins and Ja’Marr Chase for a majority of their snaps, representing himself as Pittsburgh’s top cover man on the team.
Still, Porter recognizes that the front seven has helped make his job a lot easier thanks to the pressure those players generate on a consistent basis. While on The Richard Sherman Podcast, former All-Pro CB Richard Sherman asked Porter what it’s like having OLBs T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith providing a pass rush to complement Porter and the rest of the secondary in coverage.
“Man, it’s great,” Porter said on The Richard Sherman Podcast, which aired on the show’s YouTube channel. “They get that ball out quick for me. So I have no problem with it. I love having those dudes on the edge. So man, I can try to support them as much as possible. It’s crazy ’cause T.J. used to come to my high school games when I high school. So the fact that I’m playing on his side is crazy, you know? It’s definitely crazy.”
Pittsburgh boasts possibly the best edge-rusher duo in the league with Watt, who could be considered the best defensive player in football, and Highsmith, who has blossomed into quite the productive pass rusher himself. Watt shares the league lead in sacks with 13.5 with six games left to play, having racked up two more quarterback takedowns as well as a strip sack on Bengals QB Jake Browning last week. Highsmith’s sack numbers (4.5) aren’t quite on pace for what he posted last season, but he does a great job of constantly pressuring the quarterback, getting him to throw early or step up into the teeth of Pittsburgh’s defense, helping the other pass rushers eat.
Having both Watt and Highsmith coming off the edge really helps alleviate some of the pressure on Porter and the secondary, knowing that those two dudes can get to the quarterback quickly. This means Porter doesn’t have to stay locked up in man-to-man coverage as long as Watt or Highsmith will either get home for the sack or force the quarterback to throw the ball early. That limits the time that the receiver Porter is tasked with covering has to get open before the ball must be thrown.
A great pass defense has both the pass rush and coverage working together. The latter blankets receivers down the field as the rush tees off on the quarterback, pursuing him relentlessly to make the play themselves or force a bad pass that the secondary can exploit for a pick. The Steelers have found that perfect blend, having two stud pass rushers in Watt and Highsmith as well as a CB1-in-the-making in Porter. Pittsburgh should continue to add to its secondary to find a long-term running mate opposite of Porter. That should give the Steelers an even more daunting pass defense as opposing quarterbacks must worry about throwing into coverage as well as having two of the NFL’s best bearing down on them every snap.
