When Joey Porter Sr. watches his son, Joey Porter Jr., play cornerback for the Steelers, he wants the other team to target him. Why would that be, when the reputation of many great cornerbacks discourages teams from throwing the football their way? He does believe Porter is among the best and is on his way up. He also wants him to stay hungry, and knows that his son is, but that’s not why, either.
“Just watching his body language, watching how he plays, seeing how in tune he is in the game, I know certain stuff that I know when he’s locked in”, Porter told Cam Heyward on the Not Just Football podcast. “And I know when he’s traveling, how he’s locked in.
“After that, I don’t get nervous. I, me personally, I want the action. I want them to throw at him, because I want to see what it looks like. That’s the action he wants. He could go all game, he could get two attempts, he’s gonna be mad. Like, ‘Man, I didn’t do nothing all day’. But if he had 10 attempts, no matter how it went, he got some targets.
“He’s gonna get mad if they try you and get mad if they don’t try you. It’s like, go ahead and give him the action”.
Joey Porter Sr. played with the ultimate chip on his shoulder, and Jr.’s is continually growing. Going into his fourth season, he believes that he is deserving of accolades he is not earning. That starts with Pro Bowl and All-Pro recognition, though he knows he has to improve his takeaway output.
Before we get to that point, however, there is some literal business to attend to. Joey Porter is entering the final year of his contract, so negotiations are on the horizon. For the senior Porter, though, he is preaching patience to his son. He knows the Steelers will do the deal in time; it’s just a matter of waiting your turn.
Since coming into the league, Porter has 165 tackles with 3 for loss, 1 sack, 3 interceptions, and 31 passes defensed. He had a career-high 14 passes defensed last season, doing so in 14 games, missing three to injury. And he added another two to that total in the Steelers’ first-round playoff loss, squaring off with Nico Collins.
Last season, according to Pro Football Reference, Joey Porter Jr. saw just 66 targets. He allowed only 32 catches, or a 48.5-percent catch rate, at 5.0 yards per target. With a 57.2 quarterback rating allowed, he has held opponents without a touchdown for most of his career.
And Porter should have even more talent around him with the additions of Jamel Dean and Jaquan Brisker in the secondary. He and Brisker go back to their time together at Penn State, which he believes will provide natural chemistry. But it’s up to him and him alone, of course, to uphold his end of the bargain.
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