The Pittsburgh Steelers will host the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday afternoon in a must-win game for both teams. The Bengals will be without their top wide receiver as Ja’Marr Chase was ruled out on Thursday afternoon. Rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. has been shadowing opposing team’s top receivers this season, as he did with Chase in Week 12 when the teams last played each other.
With Chase out, Porter might get a chance to shadow the Bengals’ other star receiver, Tee Higgins. He expressed this desire during his Thursday practice media availability, per 93.7 The Fan on X.
“Hopefully they will put me on [Higgins] and I can do what I usually do and lock these guys up,” Porter said.
Porter had a successful outing against Chase the first time around. He shadowed him on 24 of his 28 routes run and allowed just two receptions on two targets for 36 yards. The average separation on those two targets was 0.9 yards, per Next Gen Stats. Porter played press coverage in 41.7 percent of those reps against Chase. One of the two receptions, a catch for 11 yards, had a defensive pass interference penalty called on Porter that was declined.
The Bengals still have plenty of firepower on their offense with Higgins and WR Tyler Boyd, as well as RB Joe Mixon. Higgins emerged as the hero of last week’s game against the Minnesota Vikings with the Bengals trailing by seven points and under a minute to go. QB Jake Browning threw the ball in his direction and with the pass well short of Higgins, he adjusted back to it, caught the pass, and reached his arm out to the pylon for the game-tying score. The Bengals went on to win in overtime. He has 36 receptions for 497 yards and four touchdowns this season.
Porter has been matched up against opposing teams’ top receivers on multiple occasions this year, starting with DeAndre Hopkins. Porter’s rookie season has been an overall success. He did not play much the first several games, but once he got the opportunity to start it became apparent that he was the CB1 of the future for the Steelers. One big blemish on his record is the number of penalties called against him, including a 26-yard pass interference penalty last week that helped the Colts score a go-ahead touchdown.
Higgins is a different build of receiver from Chase, standing at 6-4. If Porter shadows him, it will be the biggest receiver he has had to go against in the NFL. Amari Cooper, Chase, and Hopkins are all at, or just above, 6-feet tall. This will test Porter in a slightly different way. By the sound of it, Porter cannot wait to give it his best shot and “lock these guys up” on Saturday.
