The Pittsburgh Steelers have had an outstanding defense to start the season. Their pass rush has been the best component of their team, but their secondary has also been rock-solid. Joey Porter Jr. has shut down some talented receivers, and Donte Jackson has made a few impact plays. Against the Los Angeles Chargers, they both needed to be stout against the run, and they answered that call. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin seems happy with their performance but won’t let them get comfortable.
“They’ve done the job, but it’s week to week at corner,” Tomlin said Tuesday during his press conference via the team’s YouTube channel. “I’m gonna keep challenging those two. One’s young and the other one’s little, and so I like challenging them.
“Make no mistake, they’re riding the wave that the front has provided. We’ve invested a lot in resources and time into that group, so we’re not surprised by their effectiveness.”
Porter would be the young player Tomlin is talking about, which makes Jackson the little one. Jackson is 5-10, which would usually cause him to be a little worse in the run game, but his attitude has seemed to make up for that. He’s been a willing tackler through three games this year.
Young corners sometimes don’t love doing the dirty work like tackling in the run game, but Porter has been much improved in that respect this year. In Week 3, he made several strong tackles, including one big tackle for loss. Considering who his father is, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he’s happy to go out and hit people.
Tomlin loves challenging his players, so it makes sense that he’s continuing to try to motivate Jackson and Porter to do even better. That’s part of why this defense has been so good. Everyone seems to have bought in on all aspects of the game. Porter is willing to shut down top receivers and fly to the line of scrimmage to make a tackle.
Tomlin will also continue to challenge them because the Steelers still have multiple great running teams left on their schedule. This week, they face the Indianapolis Colts, who have Jonathan Taylor, one of the best running backs in the NFL. In addition, Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson is also a bulldozer in the running game. Solid tackling is going to be key once again this week.
We’ll see if it’s the young corner or the little corner who makes more plays for the Steelers this week. Injuries are starting to pile up, so during these physical games, hopefully they can stay healthy. The challenges will continue to change each week, but Tomlin’s desire to see them continue to improve likely never will.
