Though weather conditions might not permit for an air-it-out game for the Buffalo Bills Sunday in the Wild Card Round against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the matchup between Buffalo star receiver Stefon Diggs and Steelers standout rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. remains an enticing one to watch.
Porter, who stepped into the starting lineup in Week Eight of the season, has taken on the role of the top cornerback for the Black and Gold, consistently shadowing the opponent’s top receivers each week. He’ll face his toughest test on Sunday in Buffalo against Diggs, one of the premier receivers in football and an elite-level route runner who earned a ton of praise from Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin earlier in the week.
That matchup is one that former NFL wide receiver and current NFL Network analyst Steve Smith Sr. is quite excited to watch.
Appearing on the latest episode of his podcast Thursday, Smith stated that the Diggs-Porter matchup is “gonna be spicy” because of the competitive nature of the two, as well as the trash talk that the two tend to spew while on the field.
“I am super pumped to see this matchup with Joey Porter Jr. against Stefon Diggs. It’s gonna get spicy, dog,” Smith said. “Diggs isn’t gonna say anything, he just gonna have a look. And Joey Jr. is like, he from Cali, dog. And we just built differently. You could say we special. I’m not saying it in a good way, that we built that way. I’m just saying this, we just built different way.
“We take the look a wrong look and we take that as total disrespect. We take that as, ‘Oh we fighting.'”
The matchup is going to be spicy, not only for the skill levels going against each other between two players playing some very good football as of late. It’ll be spicy for what’s said and done both during and after the whistle, too.
Diggs is known for mixing it up with defenders, speaking his mind, trying to get into the defenders’ heads while Porter is no young pup when it comes to talking trash and having his play back up his mouth. He learned that from his father and namesake, and he’s brought that to the Steelers’ secondary.
Porter was born in Bakersfield, Calif., as Smith pointed out, but he spent much of his time in Pittsburgh. That’s hardened him, and he has a last name and reputation to uphold with the Steelers.
So far, he’s done that with his play and with the energy he brings on and off the field.
Porter stated earlier in the week that he’s going to do his job and lock up Diggs, which raised eyebrows for some. That’s not unexpected from Porter at this point, though. He’s a very confident player and backs down from nobody. The same can be said for Diggs. That should lead to some fireworks Sunday at Highmark Stadium.
