When the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Joey Porter Jr. last year, it felt like fate. Now, Porter is being looked at as the team’s next lockdown corner. This year will be a big test for him, but he may need to work on drawing fewer penalties before he can truly take the next step. Coming out of college, one of the biggest knocks against Porter was that he was too grabby and handsy. Last year, that problem was still evident, and in the Steelers’ first preseason game, it showed up once again. It sounds like Porter doesn’t agree that he should have been flagged for pass interference against the Texans.
In a video on Twitter from Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Porter was asked about the pass-interference call.
“There’s always work to be done,” Porter said. “Always work to be had. I just try to stack my days, get stuff that I want off my tape. I had a [pass-interference] call. Didn’t like it, but it’s preseason. Gotta work on stuff like that. We just want to be grinding every day.”
Porter was called for pass interference or holding multiple times last year, so it clearly was a weakness in his game. It’s too early to tell if the issue will continue this year, but the game against the Texans showed that Porter is still going to be handsy.
The Steelers also had referees present during some practices in training camp, and Porter was flagged there a few times as well. When asked about those issues in practice, he didn’t seem too concerned.
‘They talked to me about it here and there,” he said, “but I don’t let it play a factor into my game too much.”
The play in question came near the end of the first quarter and ended up gifting the Texans 24 yards. It’s clear that Porter put his hands on the receiver, but it looks like the contact was going both ways. The ball was also underthrown, forcing the receiver to slow his momentum and kind of force his body back into Porter. It’s a tough call, but so are most pass-interference penalties.
The issue with the penalty itself is that most of the time, the referee is going to charge the defender as being guilty. It’s just the way the rule works. If it looks questionable, the call usually ends up being defensive pass interference, not offensive. Therefore, even if Porter isn’t totally in the wrong, he still has to be wary of how the referees enforce the rule.
The next preseason game will help clear up this story up more. Based on Porter’s words here, he doesn’t seem to plan on changing up his style too much. He was effective as a rookie, but going forward, players will try to attack that weakness of his. It happens, and sometimes referees simply make poor calls, but Porter can’t allow it to happen as frequently as it has in the past. Those penalties can be huge momentum killers and can totally alter the flow of a game.
