Over the last two months of his rookie season, Pittsburgh Steelers’ cornerback Joey Porter Jr. has let his play do the talking for him.
Right now, his play is stating that he’s a true, No. 1 lockdown cornerback in the NFL, which the Steelers desperately needed.
Porter again showed that Saturday night against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 16 at Acrisure Stadium.
With the Bengals missing star receiver Ja’Marr Chase, a receiver that Porter held to just two catches for 36 yards in the Week 12 matchup, Porter drew the matchup against standout wide receiver Tee Higgins.
Like he did against Chase, Porter took Higgins away entirely throughout the 34-11 win over the Bengals, locking down the Bengals’ top receiver, forcing other weapons to try and step up for the Bengals.
According to Next Gen Stats, Porter shadowed Higgins on 32 of 40 routes run on the night. On those 32 routes in which Porter was in coverage, Higgins saw just two targets. Porter allowed just one reception for 15 yards on the night against Higgins, putting up lockdown numbers.
Though Higgins had five receptions for 140 yards and a touchdown on the night, just 15 yards and one receptions came against Porter. The only other target Higgins saw matched up against Porter came in the red zone on a 4th and Inches in the second quarter. Porter put the clamps on Higgins on that rep, too, forcing an incompletion on a poor throw from Bengals’ quarterback Jake Browning, resulting in a turnover on downs.
Higgins did have an 81-yard touchdown in the loss to the Steelers, but Porter was not in coverage on the route. Porter and the Steelers were in zone, and Higgins ran a slant route that was wide open in the middle of the field. He then made safety Eric Rowe miss after he took a bad angle and raced all the way home for the score.
Coming into the game, Porter was already one of the best cornerbacks in football in terms of allowing the fewest yards of separation per route run this season at just 0.8, joined by fellow rookie second-round pick Brian Branch of the Detroit Lions, who plays primarily in the slot.
According to a chart from @justthrowthedamnball on Twitter, Porter is in that upper right quadrant of the chart measuring cornerbacks and the amount of success they have in man and zone coverage from a separation standpoint, making him one of the best corners in the league in preventing separation to opposing wide receivers.
Coming into the matchup against the Bengals, Porter graded out at a 68.9 overall from PFF, including a 67.2 as a run defender, and a 72.1 in coverage. He had allowed just 20 receptions on the season for 283 yards and a touchdown entering the week on 44 targets, good for just a 45.5% completion percentage, which is one of the best numbers in the NFL among all qualified cornerbacks.
He continues to struggle with penalties, drawing a holding call Saturday night against the Bengals, but he continues to take on the No. 1 matchups each week and largely thrives. That’s very encouraging overall from the young corner, who seemingly gets better and better weekly.
The performance against Higgins and the Bengals was another example of that, which has hopes and expectations rather high for the Penn State product long-term in the Black and Gold.
