Steelers using Joey Porter Jr.'s strength to cover up his biggest weakness
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been slow to ingratiate Joey Porter Jr. into the NFL. That's not because they have a lack of confidence in his ability to cover though. Rather it is in an effort to not leave him exposed in the run game. Well, Pittsburgh may have figured out a way to kill two […]
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been slow to ingratiate Joey Porter Jr. into the NFL.
That's not because they have a lack of confidence in his ability to cover though.
Rather it is in an effort to not leave him exposed in the run game. Well, Pittsburgh may have figured out a way to kill two birds with one stone:
Hide Him In Plain Sight
"A lot of their run game went away from D-Hop, and so Joey didn't have to worry about a lot of run game fits and dealing with [Derrick] Henry," Coach Tomlin told reporters. "All of their screens went away from him, and so he didn't have to worry about screen fits. And so, there's a young guy with some natural coverage abilities and skills, and some other components of his game are growing and developing. And just by virtue of traveling with D-Hop, some of those other things got minimized."
What Coach T is saying, is that by virtue of JPJ being able to travel with D-Hop in man coverage, the Titans were unable to target Porter Jr. in the run game, mitigating any potential for lapses in tackling, which have been the lone dull spot in a bright rookie season for Peezy Jr.
For me, that never should have kept Porter Jr. off the field in the first place, but at least Pittsburgh is finding ways to work around his tackling woes as Porter Jr. continues to develop both physically and fundamentally as a tackler.
We'll see how it goes against the Packers this weekend.
Steelers’ Joey Porter Jr. backs up his comments on Titans’ DeAndre Hopkins
Here is what Joey Porter Jr. said, and more importantly, what he did vs. Hopkins and the Titans.
