The Steelers left Paris with a win in Week 7, but the secondary did not exactly leave with its reputation intact. Pittsburgh’s run defense was outstanding against the New Orleans Saints, holding them to 18 yards on 1.1 yards per carry, yet second-year quarterback Tyler Shough still found ways to work the corners over.
That reality makes Joey Porter Jr.’s latest outing for the Dallas Cowboys hit a little harder.
Porter, the former Steelers cornerback, turned in a standout performance in Dallas’ Monday Night Football game against the Philadelphia Eagles. He was targeted five times and gave up only 10 yards, according to Pro Football Focus [$]. He also delivered a major pass breakup down the left sideline in the second half, avoided a penalty, and finished with a 47.9 passer rating allowed in coverage.
For Steelers fans, that’s the kind of night that reopens the wound.
This wasn’t just a one-game spike, either. Through three games with the Cowboys, Porter has played 80 coverage snaps and 112 total snaps. He has been targeted nine times, allowed only two catches for 10 yards, and posted a 39.6 passer rating against.
That is elite territory, plain and simple.
Even before this stretch, there was already evidence of what Pittsburgh gave away. Porter is coming off a strong 2025 season in which he gave up just 325 receiving yards and finished with a 55.9 passer rating allowed across the year. The Cowboys, meanwhile, are seeing the version of Porter the Steelers thought they had.
The sting only gets worse when you stack Porter’s work next to what happened around the league in Week 7. Just seven days after Jalen Ramsey picked up Defensive Player of the Week honors for his game against Tampa Bay, he was lit up in Paris, allowing 10 catches on 11 targets for 127 yards and a touchdown. In one game, Ramsey gave up 12 times as many yards as Porter has allowed all season.
And he wasn’t alone in a shaky secondary performance. Jamel Dean allowed five catches for 37 yards against the Saints, Asante Samuel Jr. gave up 27 yards on three catches, and DeShon Elliott surrendered a 24-yard reception.
None of that changes the fact that Dallas doesn’t become a complete defense because of one corner. Porter can only cover so much ground, and he can’t erase every issue around him. But he has looked exactly like the player he was billed to be after the trade.
Pittsburgh is still winning games. The problem is what happens when the competition stiffens later in the season. If teams start passing on the Steelers with more success, there will be even more reason to look back at Porter and wonder what might have been.
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Michael Pittman Jr. and Roman Wilson have both been part of that disruption, and it has only sharpened the question of whether the Steelers can keep moving the ball consistently without another reliable target. There are already trade ideas circulating as ways to shore up the receiving corps, but the bigger issue is whether Pittsburgh decides to act before the seasons second half starts demanding more from an offense built to play it safe. [Read more 🡒]