PITTSBURGH — Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. has been impressive during his limited snaps this season. But against the Rams, he played a season-high 53 snaps, the most he has played in a game by far. That was 78 percent of the snaps in the game, and while defensive coordinator Teryl Austin will not put a percentage on just how much Porter will play moving forward, he will say that Porter has earned playing time, which has trickle-down effects.
“He’s done some really good things coverage-wise,” Austin said. “It’s what we talked about every week. The more he plays, the better he plays, the more he progresses, the more snaps he gets, then the more he will earn those snaps. I think he earned those snaps last week and he’ll continue to do that.”
Joey Porter Jr. acknowledged after the game that he had to improve his tackling. Austin agreed with him on that. But the most revealing statement came when Austin was asked about Levi Wallace. Wallace is dealing with a foot injury that kept him out of practice on Wednesday, but when asked about Wallace’s decreased snap count, Austin did not just place it solely on the fact that Wallace is nursing that injury. More of it came from the fact that Porter outplayed Wallace.
“He’s nursing something, he felt something a little bit during the game.” Austin said. “That affected his playing time a little bit but so did the fact that Joey’s playing really well affected it, too. He’s allowing us to put Joey out there more.”
With Porter playing more, that should allow Patrick Peterson to move around. The Steelers used Peterson as the chess piece of the secondary against the Rams. That is how they expect to use him with Porter now up to speed.
According to Pro Football Focus, Peterson saw snaps at four different spots. He played the most in the last that he has all season, with 29 snaps. He aligned more at free safety and in the box, too. So, the usage for Peterson changed, and his outside cornerback snaps drastically decreased. Mike Tomlin had a simple comparison for Peterson’s usage in this game, and it’s likely the model they have moving forward. He wants to use Peterson similarly to how they used Cam Sutton, who is now on the Detroit Lions. Austin says that usage for Peterson will likely continue.
“I think you saw a little bit of that last week,” Austin said. “We were able to move Pat around and do some different things and use his abilities in a few different ways. That’s all because Joey is playing better. It allows us to have a little bit more confidence to keep him out there.”
It has been a long time coming for Joey Porter Jr., who has impressed each week he played. Now, he will become a regular in the Steelers’ rotation, but how much is yet to be seen. James Pierre will fill in some of his duties if Wallace is out. But Porter seems to have leaped him on the totem pole.