Throughout his 13-year career, Pittsburgh Steelers veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson has matched up against Buffalo Bills star receiver Stefon Diggs quite a few times.
He knows what Diggs does well, how he tries to set up defensive backs, and what makes him special from an in-person perspective.
So, entering Sunday’s Wild Card Round matchup against the Bills at Highmark Stadium, Peterson is trying to pass along “little nuggets” to rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. ahead of the big matchup, though Peterson added that he isn’t trying to “cloud” Porter’s mind, either.
“For the most part, just telling Joey that he’s [Diggs] a very, very savvy vet. But Joey’s been doing a great job all year long,” Peterson told reporters of the Porter-Diggs matchup, according to video via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on YouTube. “So it’s not…I don’t want to really cloud his mind or cloud his brain, feeding too much information to him. Like, this is Week 19 now. He had matchup challenges each and every week. I just want to give him some of my experience when I had an opportunity to match up with Stefon when he was with the Bills, and also when he was in Minnesota.
“So, just giving him little nuggets that I can remember, just to kind of help him go into that game and understand what to look for.”
Since entering the starting lineup in Week Eight against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Porter has taken on a number of good-to-great receivers, consistently matching up with the opponent’s best downfield weapon each week. That includes names like Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase, Cleveland’s Amari Cooper, Seattle’s DK Metcalf and even Tennessee’s DeAndre Hopkins.
Even before entering the starting lineup, Porter saw action against the likes of Las Vegas’ Davante Adams and Los Angeles Rams wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua.
He’s more than held his own, which has been very, very promising.
Now, he’ll face arguably his toughest test on Sunday in Buffalo. Diggs is one of the game’s best route runners, one who creates a ton of separation, can run any route and is a nightmare for even the best defensive backs.
Peterson has plenty of experience against him and has played well at times, so passing along any knowledge and experience he can to Porter in regard to the Diggs matchup is huge. However, there’s a fine line between giving him information and overloading him. Peterson wants to avoid that, and rightfully so.
Porter has done so well this season for the Steelers, so it’s important to just let him go out there and play free. It’ll be a great matchup, one Porter is looking forward, as is everyone on the outside, too. But it certainly helps the young corner having a guy like Peterson to lean on at times.
