In his second season as a key starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers, cornerback Joey Porter Jr. has taken on some tough assignments, shadowing some of the opponent’s top weapons each week.
It’s not a role that he handles every week, though. Some weeks, Porter follows the top weapon on the other side of the football wherever he goes. On other weeks, Porter stays to a side or avoids certain formations.
That’s all part of a much larger, complex discussion for the Steelers on a week-to-week basis rather than a simple decision of “yes” or “no” when it comes to trailing the opponent’s top receiver.
For Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin, the Steelers are putting Porter where they “deem appropriate” weekly based on all of the information available, rather than doing it less because of Donte Jackson’s presence on the other side of the defensive formation, as defensive coordinator Teryl Austin stated a few weeks ago.
“No, we’re putting him where we deem appropriate. Sometimes, matching a guy is most appropriate. Sometimes, putting him in an isolation formation structure is appropriate, meaning people who do a lot of backside one-on-one stuff on the backside of formations probably merit that he plays away from the nickel. He’s been doing some of that,” Tomlin said of Porter, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. ” The big thing is week in and week out, man, we believe he’s a topnotch guy, and we want to figure out the best way that we can utilize his talents in an effort to help us. Sometimes, it is one-on-one football. Sometimes, it’s within the framework of offensive structure, and we make that decision week in and week out.
“Sometimes it’s right and left. You know, we have a lot of information at our disposal relative to analytics that aid us in that discussion that make it a little bit more complex discussion as opposed to, you know, telling Joey to follow [Terry] McLaurin, for example.”
Handling the top matchups weekly isn’t new for Porter. He did it often during his rookie season with great success and then got off to a strong start this season, too.
However, based on Jackson’s play on the opposite side of the defense, the Steelers haven’t needed to truly stick Porter with the top opponent every week and have him shadow in an effort to try and take them out of the game.
Having a piece like Jackson allows the Steelers to move both cornerbacks around. Based on charting here at Steelers Depot, the Steelers have seemingly an even split between Porter and Jackson’s left-side and right-side alignment.
Porter has played 177 snaps at left corner, 234 snaps at right corner, and 25 snaps in the slot. Jackson has played 208 snaps at left corner, 175 snaps at right corner, and 11 snaps in the slot. That shows that not much shadowing is being done, which is fine.
When the need arises, the Steelers are confident in calling upon Porter to do it. They believe he’s a top-notch corner, and he’s shown it time and time again. He just hasn’t had to do it much this season, and that’s a testament to the rest of the defense.
