As we do every week to prepare you for the upcoming game, we give you our X factor of the week. Sometimes it’s a player, unit, concept, or scheme. Here’s our Pittsburgh Steelers X factor against the Cincinnati Bengals.
STEELERS VS BENGALS X FACTOR: CB JOEY PORTER JR.
Joey Porter Jr. has played well this season. The problem is it just hasn’t been a ton of snaps. Porter played in the season opener against the New York Jets but suffered a hamstring injury that caused him to miss three straight games. He returned after the bye to play against the Browns. He then suffered another injury, this time to his head, but did return to finish the game.
At the end of the day, the Steelers need him on the field. He’s only logged 123 snaps this season but has been very good when healthy. Nine passes have been thrown his way, and he’s allowed a completion on just four of them for 45 yards. Even on completions, he’s containing receivers as he’s allowed just six total yards after the catch. His 60.0 passer rating allowed shows how miserable it’s been for opposing quarterbacks looking his way.
Of course, that’s a small sample size. Porter has had a great start to his third NFL season, but he needs to be on the field consistently. Thursday night’s game will be a chance to see just how far he’s developing in Year 3.
Last year in Cincinnati, the Steelers came away with a 44-38 win. But it wasn’t a pretty performance for Porter, who was flagged six times. The Bengals have an extremely talented receiving corps, featuring Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Now, they have an experienced quarterback in Joe Flacco who can actually get them the ball.
The Steelers say they’re built to stop teams like the Bengals this season with Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay and Porter all in the fold. We’ll see just how true that is Thursday night.
