During his heyday, Shaquille O’Neal’s dominance forced opposing NBA teams to foul him in an effort to limit his effectiveness. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has the same approach when it comes to defending some of the NFL’s most physical receivers.
Tomlin alluded to the Hall of Fame center when asked about Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr.’s six flags that resulted in four penalties during Sunday’s 44-38 win over the Bengals. Tomlin said that some of those penalties were the result of technical things that Porter can clean up. Tomlin added that some of those flags can be attributed to the player Porter was covering, Bengals wideout Tee Higgins, whom Tomlin glowingly referred to as a “goon” immediately following the game.
“You have to match physicality of these big people, and sometimes, you do so at risk,” Tomlin said during his weekly press conference. “One thing we’re not gonna do is turn it down and allow him to catch the ball. He’s a big guy, as you saw that touchdown he had late in the game against Cam Sutton, he is a challenge. And so, when we play Shaq, we’re gonna use our fouls. We’re not gonna allow him to get us off the block, if you need a basketball analogy.”
Tomlin has never been shy to shower praise onto Higgins, a 6-4, 219-pound wideout who has given the Steelers plenty of headaches since joining the Bengals four years ago. Along with having incredible hands, Higgins (who is slated to become a free agent this offseason) is a precise route-runner and is difficult to bring down.
“Tee is a big, backside matchup guy,” Tomlin said last week. “He runs ‘big boy routes’ as we say in the business – slants and so forth. He is a combat catcher. He’s a tough tackle.”
As far as Porter is concerned, Tomlin said that technical things at the line of scrimmage likely contributed to some of Sunday’s penalty issues. He is confident that his young cornerback will grow from the experience.
“He’s got a serial killer’s mentality, but if you’re going to be a top-flight corner, you better,” Tomlin said. “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.”
