Steelers Now
Cincinnati Bengals star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase gave an honest assessment on Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. ahead of Sunday’s game.
“Handsy, really handsy,” Chase said on Thursday when asked about Porter.
Chase avoided giving any bulletin board material when asked if he liked his matchup against Porter.
“I like any matchup with me,” Chase replied.
Chase reeled in a single-game career-high 16 passes for 161 yards in the Bengals’ 33-31 win over the Steelers on Oct. 16. Tee Higgins nearly eclipsed 100 receiving yards, as well. The Steelers got handsy and dealt with pass interference calls throughout the night, which has been a common theme in recent games against the Bengals.
The infractions aren’t anything new for Porter, who was flagged for pass interference three times and defensive holding twice during last season’s visit to Cincinnati.
“I mean, we’ve got the guys to do it,” Porter said afterward of covering the two high-end wideouts. “They’ve just gotta let us play. … I wasn’t a big fan of the calls today with the officiating, but it is what it is. It’s football.”
Porter and Ramsey were both called for pass interference twice against Joe Flacco’s attack. Three of the penalties resulted from their coverage approach on Chase, and the other on Higgins. Porter said the officials weren’t explaining anything helpful about why he was getting called on.
“I was trying to figure it out, but he wasn’t really saying nothing educational to learn from, so it was pointless,” Porter said.
Despite not being happy with the officials in the last meeting, Porter knows the defense has to pick up their game.
“I feel like it wasn’t our best game,” he said on Thursday. “We wasn’t flying around like we wanted to. I feel like everybody was expressive about that.”
Brendan Howe contributed reporting for this story.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Ja’Marr Chase Gives Blunt Assessment on Joey Porter Jr.
