We know what Mike Tomlin likes to say when it comes to aggressiveness: 'I'd rather have to say 'Woah' than 'sick em'.' Maybe it's finally time to say 'Woah'. The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off a 44-38 win over the Bengals, but Joey Porter Jr. made this one closer than it needed to be due to his overaggressive play.
Porter, the 32nd overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, has a rare combination of size and length for a cornerback. When you combine this with intense physicality, you have the makings of an intriguing boundary CB who can lock down top wide receivers... at least in theory.
The problem with Porter is that he gets sloppy and downright grabby. This is what happened against the Bengals. Instead of trusting his positioning when defending players like Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase, Porter continually (and unnecessarily) grabbed the receiver early and often in the route.
This led to a career-high six penalties called against him in Week 13 (two of which were declined). There are cornerbacks who can go a seventeen-game season without getting this many penalties. While one or two were questionable, the vast majority of these penalties during the Bengals game were blatant and warranted.
Porter now has 14 total penalties called against him and nine penalties accepted by the opposing team. Considering the Steelers have played 12 games this season, this is a disastrous and unacceptable number. Porter is also third among all NFL players in penalty yards with 111 after Week 13, per NFLPenalties.com.
Steelers must find a way to fix Joey Porter Jr.'s grabbiness
Much like Broderick Jones' early-season struggles, Joey Porter Jr. seems to have regressed in his second NFL season. Instead of trusting his length and footwork to win a the top of routes, Porter has his hands all over opposing wide receivers as he leads all NFL cornerbacks in total flags thrown against him.
The Pittsburgh Steelers need to fix this in a hurry. If Porter has a game like this in the playoffs against a better opponent, this team could botch a shot at a Super Bowl run.
While we don't want all of Porter's aggressiveness to go away, he needs to tone it back. It's about landing subtle jabs and jersey tugs that won't draw the attention of the officials. Porter may even need to get with a personal DB coach outside of the facility to work on his technique in his spare time. If he really wants to improve, it starts with putting in the work.
Some fans and media members jokingly toyed with the idea of putting clubs on both of his hands so that he can't grab wide receivers even if he wanted to. Porter isn't known for having soft hands to intercept passes, so it wouldn't hurt him in that regard.
Obviously, the Steelers aren't going to go this route. But with the disastrous performance we just witnessed against the Bengals, Pittsburgh could be close to putting Joey Porter Jr. in the doghouse if he has another game like we just witnessed.
The Steelers have to find a way to fix this once-promising cornerback before it's too late.