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.
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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.
It wasn’t the prettiest victory, but the Steelers have started the Mike McCarthy era with a victory.
Pittsburgh bested Atlanta 20-13 with some solid defense — including a game-changing play by T.J. Watt.
Early in the fourth quarter, Watt picked off a pass behind the line of scrimmage and returned it for a 35-yard touchdown to put Pittsburgh up 20-10.
It was Watt’s 10th career interception but his first pick-six.
While Nick Folk hit a 43-yard field goal to cut Pittsburgh’s lead to seven, the Falcons could not get any more points. Darnell Washington helped bring the game to a close with a nasty stiff-arm on a 15-yard reception on third-and-3 late in the fourth quarter. With Atlanta out of timeouts, Jaylen Warren put it away with a 9-yard run to bring the clock to the two-minute warning.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers finished 24-of-40 for 221 yards with a touchdown. Pittsburgh was just 3-of-13 on third down but had 264 yards.
It wasn’t a banner day for Atlanta’s offense either, with Cooper Rush finishing 12-of-22 for 143 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Bijan Robinson was the major power for the offense, taking 21 carries for 83 yards and catching eight passes for 90 yards with a touchdown.
At 1-0, the Steelers will be on the road to face the Patriots next week.
The 0-1 Falcons will be at home to play the division-rival Panthers.
The Steelers just broke the dam.
T.J. Watt picked off a Cooper Rush pass to Bijan Robinson in the backfield and returned it for a pick-six, giving the Steelers a 20-10 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Rush was trying to hit Robinson on a quick pass to the right, but Watt stepped right in front of the quarterback, jumped up, and got his hands on the football. While Watt went down to the ground, he hadn’t been touched, so he got right back up and made his way to the end zone for the defensive score.
It’s the first pick-six of Watt’s career and his second defensive touchdown.
Watt now has 2.0 sacks, three tackles for loss, and an interception on the day.
The Steelers are beating the Falcons 13-7 at halftime, but neither team looked like a world beater in the first two quarters.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring with a 43-yard field goal by Chris Boswell. Atlanta got on the board with a Bijan Robinson 23-yard touchdown reception after a Jaylen Warren fumble, taking a 7-3 lead.
But after Boswell hit a 28-yard field goal, Cooper Rush tossed an interception, with the Steelers getting in the end zone on a 6-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers to Pat Freiermuth.
The Steelers had an opportunity to put up more points with a very long 62-yard field goal attempt, but the play was botched, as holder Cameron Johnston fielded the ball, ran to his left, and eventually threw it away.
Rodgers is 14-of-26 for 131 yards with a touchdown.
Rush finished the first half 9-of-14 for 79 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Robinson has seven of those catches for 66 yards with a TD. He’s rushed for 14 yards on seven carries.
The Falcons will receive the second-half kickoff.
