Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr. Vows Penalties Won’t Make Him Change His Game
Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. said his highly penalized day against the Cincinnati Bengals won't make him change his game.
CINCINNATI — Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. will probably spend the rest of the next week looking over his shoulder every time he does something, to make sure that someone wearing stripes hasn’t tossed a small yellow flag behind him.
Porter was flagged six times as the Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, with four of them accepted. Two of them came in the end zone, setting up the Bengals with first and goal from the 1-yard line. Cincinnati scored touchdowns on the ensuing play in both of them, giving the Bengals easy touchdowns, and letting them keep pace in the back-and-forth game.
“I’m mad at it. I’m trying to be great at the end of the day,” Porter said. “Those flags kind of get in the way. But like Coach T always says, if he’s not tripping, and my team’s not mad about it, then I’ve just got to keep playing and doing my job. I feel like at this point, they’re trying to alter my play, but I’m not really worried about that.”
Porter had been highly penalized as a rookie in 2023, with eight accepted penalties against him. In the early part of the 2024, that looked like an area of growth, with just one accepted foul over the first nine weeks.
But Porter was flagged three times against the Washington Commanders in Week 10, once more against the Cleveland Browns in Week 12 and then four more against the Bengals.
Porter has now been called for nine accepted penalties this season, the second-most of any NFL defensive back and tied for the 11th-most overall. Only Detroit Lions rookie Terrion Arnold has more defensive penalties. Nine of the top 10 most-penalized players are offensive linemen. Laremy Tunsil of the Houston Texans has the most with 15.
The Steelers had a clear game plan on Sunday. They wanted Porter to deal with Cincinnati wide receiver Tee Higgins 1 on 1, and to be able to give help to Donte Jackson with Ja’Marr Chase on the other side of the field. The Steelers did that knowing that Higgins can be a physical handful.
“You can’t let him beat you up, while at the same time, the officials are going to call it the way they’re going to call it,” head coach Mike Tomlin said. “So, sometimes I kind of absorb some of what comes with that. You cannot let a big dude like that beat you up. You have to match the fire with the fire. You hope that you do it clean enough that doesn’t draw a bunch of penalties. We weren’t successful in that regard today. We’ll keep working, but one thing we’re not going to do is let that guy goon us.”
The plan was for Porter to hold his own, figuratively and if necessarily, literally, with Higgins. So in some respects, he’s not going to apologize for going out there and doing his job.
“I don’t try to let that effect my game” he said. “Sometimes I show my emotion on the field, because obviously, I’m a little mad about it, but I’m not switching up or nothing. I’m just gonna keep going at it.”
But he doesn’t want to get a reputation as a handsy defensive back, and he feels like that might be happening. His tackle of Andrei Iosivas in the end zone was an obvious call, but the three later ones against Higgins were more questionable.
“Some of those calls, I feel like I’m not doing nothing the average DB’s doing,” Porter said. “I got that target on my back and clearly, I’ve got to keep working.”
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