Steelers Now
Former Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker Joey Porter Sr. cleared the air on the famous “bus incident” with Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis in Week 1 of the 2003 season. Porter did not play in the game, as he was recovering from a gun shot wound, which occurred outside of a night club in Denver. Porter nearly suited up, however.
“I had just got show in Denver. This is Week 1, I have to miss the game. I’m in pregame warm up, Ray Lewis is out there and getting ready for the game, he’s looking at me and talking directly to me. ‘This is my house, we about to do boom, boom, do this, X, Y and Z. I looked around like, ‘Shit, who we talking, too? I looked, I said, ‘Damn it’s just me out here. I’m like, man, you talking to me?’
“So I start stretching. I’m like, ‘Shit, (Rodgers Freyvogel) go get my gear.’ You think I can’t go play, I’m about to play today. Mind you my ass just got shot. I’m about to Wolverine myself. This hole in my body is no longer there,” Porter said on Cam Heyward’s Not Just Football podcast.
‘Joey you’re not playing,'” Porter added while imitating Bill Cowher’s voice. “So now I’m so damn angry because Ray got me so gassed up.”
The Steelers defeated the Ravens, 34-15, but the animosity between the two teams continued after the game.
“Plax and Corey Fuller are going at it. They’re talking having a conversation. Ray come out and he sees Corey. He’s like Corey, ‘You good over there?’ And I’m like … ‘Nah, he ain’t good, come and check on him,” Porter explained. “Then he said, ‘Nah man, I’m (going to) pray for you.’ And then he got on the bus, and that shit made me mad. That’s why I started walking toward the bus. I’m like you talked all that shit. Now don’t sent me a prayer. Don’t pray for me mother******.
“And then they see me walking toward (the bus), and that’s when they start the story, ‘Oh, Joey got on the bus trying to fight Ray Lewis!’ People who know the story, they know.”
So there you have it, Porter did not actually go on the Ravens’ team bus and try to fight Ray Lewis. Nevertheless, it sure is an entertaining story. There was nothing like the Steelers-Ravens rivalry in the 2000s.
“I’m about to Wolverine myself.”🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/Eyw1ZlytoF
— Not Just Football (@NotJustFootball) June 23, 2025
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Legend Joey Porter Sr. Reflects on Famous Incident with Ray Lewis: ‘I’m About to Wolverine Myself’
