CB Joey Porter Jr. was called for two penalties in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 7 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. That number was low compared to the six he was called for against Cincinnati in their first matchup last season. Porter, at times, covered WR Ja’Marr Chase in the first matchup against Cincinnati this year, and Chase offered a quick answer when asked during his press conference today what he thought about Porter.
“Handsy, real handsy,” Chase said via the Bengals’ Twitter account.
He deflected when asked if he liked the matchup of him on Porter for the Bengals.
“I like any matchup with me,” Chase said.
Porter’s first defensive pass interference penalty in Week 7 came when he was covering Chase. It’s no secret that Porter can be too grabby at times, as he was penalized 12 times last season, six for defensive pass interference and four times for defensive holding, and the majority of those penalties came against Cincinnati. He also has four defensive pass interference penalties this season.
Chase just calling Porter “handsy” when asked about his game is probably a little bit of a dig, and it could be some posturing ahead of the game this weekend. In Porter’s media availability today, he talked about the need for the Steelers’ defense to get the “bad taste out of our” after the first loss to the Bengals.
“I feel like it just wasn’t our best game,” Porter said about the Week 7 matchup via Steelers.com. “We wasn’t flying around like we wanted to. I feel like everybody was expressive about that.”
Maybe Chase’s comments can give Porter and the defense an edge to ensure that they don’t have the same issues they did the first time around. Porter made his first interception of the season in Week 9 against the Indianapolis Colts and dropped one he should’ve had last week against the Los Angeles Chargers. It would be a nice comeback for Porter if he could snag one against the Bengals.
Until Porter is able to clean up the penalties against the Bengals, he’s going to have that reputation of being too handsy, especially in Cincinnati. While Chase’s comments might be pointed, he’s not entirely wrong given what Porter has put on tape, particularly against the Bengals.
Sunday will be his chance to clean that up, and he’s going to need to if the Steelers really want to get the bad taste out of their mouth.
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