Mike Valenti didn’t hide his frustration with the Detroit Lions’ failure to land Joey Porter Jr., and he made his point after watching Porter shine in coverage against the Packers.
The 97.1 The Ticket host said the Lions missed out on the kind of cornerback who could have changed the look of their defense, especially with Kelvin Sheppard’s pass defense sitting at the bottom of the National Football League.
“Man, you really f'd up not getting Joey Porter Jr. Watching last night really encapsulates it,” said Valenti.
“And again, I think the dimwitted take would be, 'Well, Dallas isn't winning.' Their defense didn't cost them that game last night.
Joey Porter Jr. locked up on Christian Watson, who's been a top five receiver this year. That's a big player.
That's a 6'3, tall, rangy, big-bodied receiver. Porter was tasked with playing Watson most of the night with no help.
“Watson had his quietest game of the year. Multiple PBU's. Yes, there was one penalty, but Joey Porter Jr., they were helping everyone else, not him.”
Watson finished with three catches for 64 yards against the Cowboys, a total that fell below his season average entering the Week 5 matchup.
Valenti said the Lions could have used that kind of presence in their own secondary, especially with D.J. Reed needing support around him.
“You put that guy on this Lions defense, allowing D.J. Reed to have help.
Man, what a difference it would make. You really f'd up,” Valenti said.
“That was the guy. That's the best corner that's going to get dealt.
That's the guy. And you saw it living color last night.
You did not lose that game because Joey Porter Jr. got dusted. They didn't.
And again, a corner can only do so much. The pieces have to work together.
The two games he's played for the Cowboys, I think he had poopy pants last week. He had to leave the game sick.
He's been excellent. You f'd up.”
Porter’s move to Dallas has not been perfectly smooth. The former Steelers defender already missed a game because of illness, and he described just how rough it got.
“I really just couldn't hold anything down,” he said, via the Cowboys team website. “You know, I just kept throwing up.
I try to fight through. I tried to take a nap before the game, just to shake it off, but I just couldn't hold in deep down.
So, that's when they made the call to send me home.”
He later said he was still dealing with it on the way to the game.
“On my way to the game, I was throwing up outside of my Uber,” Porter explained. “It was brutal.
I'm not gonna lie. You go into the week thinking you're gonna get more of a workload, and you're ready to go, and then that's ultimately what doesn't happen.
It was very frustrating. I was prepared to play all week.
My mindset was on playing, the mindset was to get the dub, and obviously I didn't get to do that, and we didn't get the dub. I was pretty pissed.”
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