Mike Tomlin reacts to Joey Porter Jr. getting flagged 6 times vs. Bengals: 'Have to match physicality'

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had some interesting things to say about cornerback Joey Porter Jr. getting flagged six times during Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals. While speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Tomlin said the game plan was to be physical with the Bengals, which is what Porter did.

“Certainly he could’ve been better from a technical standpoint,” Tomlin said, per Pro Football Talk. “Competing against the likes of Tee Higgins, and his style of play, I felt the same way competing with DK Metcalf last year, you have to match physicality with these big people, and sometimes you do so at risk, and that’s just a tightrope that I and he are willing to walk in order to be competitive.

“One thing we’re not going to do is turn it down and allow him to catch the ball. He is a challenge. When we play Shaq, we’re going to use our fouls, we’re not going to allow him to get us off the block, if you need a basketball analogy.”

Joey Porter Jr. was hit with three pass interference penalties, two defensive holding penalties and one illegal use of hands penalty. Porter and the rest of the Steelers’ defensive players struggled to slow the Bengals’ offense down as quarterback Joe Burrow threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns. The Steelers won the game 44-38 thanks to quarterback Russell Wilson who threw for 414 yards and three scores.

Mike Tomlin says Joey Porter Jr. is ‘running to the fight’

Porter finished his day against the Bengals with five tackles. In 12 games this year, the former Penn State star has tallied 50 tackles, one interception and 16 passes defended.

“He’s got a serial killer’s mentality,“ Tomlin said about Porter, per Penn Live. ”But if you’re going to be a top-flight corner, you better. And that’s probably one of the things that I knew about him because of our personal relationship, that really made me comfortable drafting him. It’s not fake. It’s real. He’s not running from the fight, he’s running to the fight. You better have a short memory at that position, and he’s always had it. He was probably nine or 10 when I met him, and he had it then.”