Pittsburgh Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr. is 20 games into his NFL career, but he only has one interception. Despite that, he is one of the best in the league at his primary job: preventing catches. He knows he needs to get those interceptions at some point, and they will come in time. But told former Steelers OLB Arthur Moats that his lone interception is actually not his favorite NFL play to date. Rather, it was a two-play sequence in his second game against the Cincinnati Bengals as a rookie.
“I had a third-down tackle on the goal line to make them go for it on fourth down, and I had the stop versus Tee Higgins on [fourth] down”, Porter recalled. Two plays earlier, he made a key open-field tackle on 2nd and 1. “Those two plays right there were my two favorites, just off the tackle I made to make them go for it on that down and for me to lock up on the next play versus a very high-level receiver like that. It was a great moment”.
I’m not sure if Joey Porter’s memory is completely aligned, as a Joe Mixon run separated those two plays. He did lock Bengals WR Tee Higgins down on the eventual fourth-down play, forcing a turnover on downs.
One can argue that the first play was an even bigger moment for Porter, however. He was struggling earlier in his rookie season to finish his tackles, and that was one of his key corrections. That tackle on 2nd and 1 served as a proof of concept that he was developing into a complete player.
But what about that interception? How can any cornerback not choose his lone interception as his favorite play, especially this one? Porter made a great play in the end zone—against Odell Beckham Jr and the Baltimore Ravens. Moats questioned why he didn’t go with that moment.
“The OBJ pick, that’s always gonna speak for itself”, Porter said. “That has so much weight on it, just the rivalry with the whole Steelers-Ravens, the point of the interception versus who it was”. But either way, those two sequences have one play in common: shutting the door on the last blades of grass.
Unsurprisingly, opposing offenses are reluctant to throw at Joey Porter. So far, he has only faced six targets through three games, allowing four receptions for 40 yards—or 55. It depends upon whom you ask, as Pro Football Focus and Pro Football Reference offer different numbers. Ah, the beauty of the analytics age, tracking data that is sometimes untrackable with complete accuracy.
Porter hasn’t had many passes to defense so far—he does have one—but he is showing his tackling prowess. The whole secondary has been making quality open-field tackles, as a matter of fact. Like Porter, the defensive backs all take pride in holding up their end in that aspect of the game.
