Steelers Rule Out Joey Porter Jr. for Thursday Night Rock Fight Against Browns
Adam Schefter reported that Porter is ruled out due to his back issue.
The are heading into a short-week divisional rock fight without their top corner. Adam Schefter reported Wednesday that Joey Porter Jr. is officially out for Thursday Night Football against the due to a back issue.
Losing your CB1 on a normal week is bad. Losing him on a Thursday night against an AFC North rival is the kind of thing that makes defensive coordinators stare blankly at their play sheets.
is coming off a tight 30-27 win over the on Sunday. Turning around four days later with a compromised secondary is a brutal assignment, especially when the Browns just scraped together a 21-18 win over the Panthers and are looking to build momentum at home.
Porter usually draws the toughest assignments on the outside. Without him, the Steelers have to shuffle their coverage packages, which completely changes the math for anyone looking at 's passing props or the overall game total.
Back injuries are notoriously tricky, so the real question is whether this is just a short-week precaution or something that lingers into October. For now, has to figure out how to survive a prime-time road game with a glaring hole on the perimeter.