After a six-penalty mess of a performance in the first meeting, Pittsburgh Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr. is hoping for a stronger encore against the Cincinnati Bengals. Speaking to reporters Thursday, Porter is hoping to best WR Tee Higgins after being bested the first time around.
“Definitely gonna get Higgins again,” Porter told the media scrum via Steelers.com. “I think he’s just overall good receiver. He’s got a lot of good qualities to his game that I like. He could go attack the ball. He is pretty fast, so it’s gonna be a good matchup.”
Porter took his lumps in the first showing: four defensive pass interferences, one defensive holding, and one illegal hands to the face. He became the first cornerback since 2022 to be penalized six times in a single game. Only four of them were accepted but it’s a bad day to celebrate officially being flagged four times.
Three of those DPIs came against Higgins. A power forward receiver and one of the biggest in football at a listed 6-4, 220 pounds, the Steelers goal was to play physical and not let his physicality dominate the matchup. Following the game, Mike Tomlin absolved Porter of blame.
“Sometimes, I kind of absorb some of that that comes with that,” Tomlin told reporters. “You cannot let a big dude like that beat you up. You gotta match the fire with the fire, you hope you do it clean enough that it doesn’t draw a bunch of penalties.”
But Porter crossed clear lines and panicked when he was in good position, including on a Joe Burrow overthrow that would’ve otherwise been a harmless incompletion.
His penalties have come in packs. His 14 penalties have come in just six games this season with 12 of those occurring in only three contests. He had three against the Denver Broncos in Week 2, three more against the Washington Commanders in Week 10, and then the six-flag showing against the Bengals. Porter’s shown the ability to avoid the flags but when he gets one, they snowball.
Porter’s Pringles, not stopping after just one, is the biggest issue of his game to clean up. There’s no better time than the present. Cincinnati’s offense is among the hottest in football with two stud receivers and a quarterback playing at an MVP level. Porter will be tested to see if his penalty problem has disappeared. Even if it has, he’ll still need to find ways to make impact plays and slow the roll of a potent Bengals’ attack.
