Pittsburgh Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr. had a rough performance in Week 13 against the Cincinnati Bengals, getting penalized six times while primarily matching up with WR Tee Higgins. While Pittsburgh took home a 44-38 win, it was one of the worst games of Porter’s career, and it also included a dropped interception. It’s not a good time for Porter to start struggling with Pittsburgh entering the home stretch of the regular season and looking to put itself in position for a high seed in the playoffs, but Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin doesn’t think that last week’s performance will become an issue for Porter.
“We ask Joey to do a lot. We put him on the backside, sometimes one-on-one with the best receivers, or it may not be the best receiver but he’s the guy that’s not getting a lot of help. So some days are gonna be rougher than others. It’s just a matter of getting back in the lab and continue to play,” Austin said via Chris Adamski of TribLive on Twitter. “It’s always the next play. Because if you get caught in your own mind, and you’re chasing something that happened awhile ago that you can’t fix right now, it doesn’t make any sense. So let’s just move onto the next play, let’s be better this next play. He’s done a good job, and I’m sure he’ll bounce back.”
Porter’s had an issue with penalties ever since he entered the league, and his grabbiness was an issue dating back to his college days at Penn State. He’s a long, physical cornerback, and while physicality is a big part of his game, it can get to be too much sometimes, which leads to Porter getting flagged. For his part, he believes that officials are trying to alter his play style, but regardless, Porter is going to have to adapt to make sure he’s not costing the Steelers with flags.
When Porter gets penalized, the flags seem to come in bunches. While he does a good job moving on play to play and week to week, he may be right when he says he believes there’s a target on his back, as officials could be watching him more closely than other players due to his penchant for picking up flags. Porter is going to have to move on from the poor performance against Cincinnati and really try to limit just how physical he can get with opposing receivers, as now Porter will be under the microscope even more going forward.
He’s had penalty-filled games in the past, and Porter has always bounced back, and Austin is confident it will be no different going forward. With the biggest stretch of Pittsburgh’s season coming up, the Steelers are going to need Porter to be the lockdown top corner that he’s been in the past, and reducing his penalty total will be paramount to that happening.
