Steelers Clips
Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters earlier on Thursday that cornerback Joey Porter Jr. was scheduled to do more at practice than he did on Wednesday.
But things have changed.
According to multiple reporters on the scene, Porter exited practice with a trainer during the portion of the session open to media.
Porter went through the team stretch and some individual drills before exiting the session.
On Wednesday, Porter was listed as limited — but not for the back injury he was limited with last week. Instead, he was listed on Wednesday as non-injury-related/conditioning.
Reporters note that there was no further update immediately available from the Steelers on Porter as he left practice.
Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf had a rough game in Week 1, dropping passes, twice getting called for offensive pass interference, and gaining just 40 receiving yards on the 10 passes Aaron Rodgers threw to him.
Rodgers isn’t concerned.
“I’m not worried about DK at all, man,” Rodgers said, via TheAthletic.com. “I love DK. He’s one of my closest friends on the team, and I’m going to keep feeding him.”
Rodgers thought the pass interference calls were inconsistent and the Steelers’ offense was very close to a big game.
“The whole thing can be deceiving,” Rodgers said. “We had PI on a third down that could have been a touchdown. We had another blatant PI on DK that wasn’t called. We had an opportunity to [Roman Wilson] down the field with probably PI not called. He didn’t come up with it. Had DK in the end zone. For sure PI. He still almost made a ridiculous catch. And then one that DK obviously usually catches. One of those goes [our way] or two of those goes, and it’s a whole different conversation. That’s the way the league is. You can’t get too caught up in specific numbers without looking at what actually happened in the game.”
The Steelers beat the Falcons despite a mediocre game from their offense, but they will be hoping for more from both Metcalf and Rodgers on Sunday in New England.
The ramp up for Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. will continue.
Head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters that Porter is once again slated to practice on Thursday.
“I thought Joey had a good day yesterday,” McCarthy said, via Mike DeFabo of TheAthletic.com. “He did everything that he was scheduled to do, so hopefully we can make some progress today.”
McCarthy added, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN, “He’s scheduled to do more today than he did yesterday.”
But, McCarthy did not commit to Porter being a full participant in practice.
Porter was listed as limited in practice on Wednesday, with his designation as not injury related/conditioning. Last week, Porter was listed as limited with a back injury.
It’s believed that Porter is still seeking a contract extension. But the Steelers have had a longstanding policy of not negotiating with players once the regular-season begins.
At a press conference before Wednesday’s practice, Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy said that the plan was for cornerback Joey Porter Jr. to try to do more in practice than he did last week.
Porter may have done more during the session, but he’s still not doing everything. Porter was listed as limited, which is the same designation he had on all three injury reports last week.
The reason given for Porter’s limitations has changed, however. Porter was listed with a back injury, but conditioning is now given as the reason for his inclusion on the practice report.
Wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (foot) was also listed as limited while left tackle Troy Fautanu (ankle) and tight end Darnell Washington (personal) did not participate in practice.
There is some positive news on the injury front for one of New England’s key young players.
Head coach Mike Vrabel said in his Wednesday press conference that TreVeyon Henderson should do more at practice on Wednesday as he continues to recover from an ankle injury.
Henderson did not play in the Week 1 loss to Seattle a week ago. He was on the field for Monday’s practice in a limited capacity.
“We’ll continue to evaluate that and see where he is, and hopefully that continues to trend in the right direction,” Vrabel said, via Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald.
Henderson, a second-round pick in last year’s draft, accounted for 1,132 yards from scrimmage and 10 total touchdowns as a rookie.
New England’s first injury report for the Week 2 matchup against Pittsburgh is due out later on Wednesday.
T.J. Watt’s big game helped power the Steelers to victory on Sunday.
Now he has been named AFC defensive player of the week.
Watt recorded a 35-yard pick-six, three tackles for loss, and 2.0 sacks in Pittsburgh’s 20-13 victory over Atlanta in Week 1.
It was Watt’s 10th career interception. He now joins Hall of Famer Julius Peppers as the only two players to record at least 100 sacks and 10 interceptions since 1982.
Watt now has nine career defensive player of the week awards, which ties Hall of Famers Chris Doleman, Bruce Smith, and Lawrence Taylor for the most ever.
This is his first DPOW award since 2024.
Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. appears to be moving closer to a return to the Steelers lineup.
Head coach Mike McCarthy said earlier this week that he hoped Porter would increase his practice work after missing last Sunday’s win over the Falcons. Porter spent all of training camp on the physically unable to perform list and was limited in practice last week, but McCarthy indicated he could be a full participant on Wednesday.
“Our plan is to move forward with Joey and see how much more he could do today,” McCarthy said, via 93.7 The Fan.
Porter was dealing with a back injury this summer, but he was also looking for a contract extension that did not come before Week 1. Porter has not committed to playing without a new deal and the Steelers have a policy of not negotiating during the season.
During the pregame show for Sunday night’s matchup between the Cowboys and Giants, new NBC analyst Mike Tomlin quoted one of his former players when talking about Cleveland’s ugly 34-10 loss to Jacksonville.
“In the words of my friend JuJu Smith-Schuster,” Tomlin said, “the Browns is the Browns.”
Smith-Schuster made those words famous back in 2020, ironically before the Browns then pounded the Tomlin-led Steelers in the wild card round. But the saying has stuck in part because the Browns have had just one winning season since — and even that ended with an ugly postseason loss.
Asked about Tomlin’s comments in his Monday video conference, first-year head coach Todd Monken seemed to take some exception to them.
“Well, again, everybody’s afforded their opinions. That’s what you do when you go from coaching to television,” Monken said. “We have to own that. We have to own that. We didn’t play very well. I don’t see it that way, Browns being Browns. I don’t see it that way. Every week is different, every team is different. We just didn’t play well. That’s one week. That’s not Browns being Browns, that’s Browns being poorly on one week.
“So, again, everybody’s afforded their opinion. And the only way to change people’s opinion is to play better. That’s a fact. We don’t want to be considered an also-ran, then we have to play better. We have to coach better, and we have to play better.”
At this point, Monken is right — the only way the Browns can change their perception is by winning. We’ll see if they can at least be competitive against the Buccaneers on Sunday, though that will be unlikely if Deshaun Watson does not play any better at quarterback.
Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. didn’t play in Sunday’s season-opening win over the Falcons, and coach Mike McCarthy was noncommittal on Porter’s timeline for a return.
Porter, who did not get his desired contract extension with the team before the start of the season, missed all of training camp with a back injury. He was limited in practice last week, and McCarthy said Porter was in a “ramp-up” period.
McCarthy was asked Monday whether the plan was to increase Porter’s workload this week.
“Hopefully we’ll have a good plan for him on Wednesday, and hopefully we’ll do more,” McCarthy said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “That’s the outlook. So yeah, hopefully we move forward with more volume of work. That would be my anticipation.”
McCarthy did add that he expects Porter to play once the ramp-up is completed.
Porter has not publicly committed to playing.
He is due to make $3.924 million in 2026 and wants a deal commensurate with those of Devon Witherspoon and Christian Gonzalez. The Steelers stop negotiations once the season starts, so a trade is a possibility with Porter in the final year of his deal.
Pryor reports the Steelers have neither made nor received calls for the 2023 second-round pick.
“My concern for Joey, obviously, is to get him to a spot no different than everybody else in training camp,” McCarthy said. “The first players that go through that first ramp-up period that are not ready to go -- they don’t participate fully in a padded practice. So I don’t really see this any different than that. Now it is different that there’s a business component to it, and that’s really a whole other topic.
“As far as Joey’s participation in practice, he’s communicating with the trainer every day. He’s communicating with the strength and conditioning coach. . . . We’ll get him out there when he’s ready to go through a full practice.”
After the Steelers’ 20-13 victory over the Falcons, Aaron Rodgers awarded Mike McCarthy the game ball. It was the Pittsburgh native’s debut.
“Mike’s had a lot of wins, but it’s always special when it’s the first one at a place, and extra special when it’s the team you grew up cheering for and you grew up just on the other side of the river from the facility,” Rodgers, who spent 13 seasons with McCarthy in Green Bay, said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. "[His] parents are still living in town, so super
special to be able to do that. I was really honestly looking forward to that today as much as anything.”
McCarthy’s voice cracked with emotion, per Pryor, when asked about the gesture.
“First team ball, first win,” McCarthy said. “So it’s obviously a special moment. I really appreciate the guys. Appreciate Aaron and the kind words, and it’s time to move on to get team victories from here on. I’m not one for attention. So, the homecoming’s been great. I’m just glad to get this one under our belt.”
It was McCarthy’s 175th career victory. He is 175-112-2 with the Packers, Cowboys and now Steelers.
