Don’t Get Too Excited About New Pittsburgh Steelers Assistant Coach, Joey Porter

You could almost hear the collective gasp of giddyness when the Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Tuesday that former LB and jibber jabber Joey Porter became the newest member of the coaching staff.

Don’t get too too excited about this latest addition to what’s become an unexpected interesting off season so far in the coaching department.  Porter is only an assistant defensive coach.  He’s not the linebackers coach, who is still (for now) Keith Butler, and he’s certainly not the new defensive coordinator.  Porter’s main duties will be putting together play books, game film, notes for coaches, etc.  Some of these guys practically live in the film room getting things together week to week.  That’s not to say that Porter won’t have any interaction with the players.  But he won’t have the time with players that I think those who are most excited about Porter’s arrival.

I think Porter will be a good addition.  In a post I wrote earlier this season, the Steelers lost much of their swagger and nastiness on both sides of the ball.  An attitudinal shift took place during camp and through the first half of the season that left them sitting at 2-6.  It’s tough to say what actually caused a slight reversal to bring the Steelers back to even at 8-8.  But, they still lack the nastiness that made this defense so intimidating for all those years in the late 90’s and into the first decade of 2000.  Porter’s attitude and his mouth could certainly help bring some of that back as the defense begins to move away from the old and into the young and impressionable.  That in itself is a huge positive in bringing Porter on board.

We have very little idea if he is a good teacher.  We have little idea if he will gel with the players on this roster.  I do, however, like the idea of seeing Porter standing on those sidelines walking the sidelines and helping to get the defense fired up on game day.  Here’s to hoping that he turns out to be a good assistant for the coaches and a good motivator for the defense.   Welcome aboard, J Peezy!