FRISCO, Texas — Joey Porter Jr. has been a breath of fresh air for the Dallas Cowboys defense, and fairly immediately. His debut against the Houston Texans gave an instant taste of his talent, but his would-be home debut at AT&T Stadium, four days later, was derailed by a sudden sickness that forced the team to send him home just ahead of kickoff.
On Sunday afternoon, he'll get a mulligan when the Arizona Cardinals fly into town.
Porter's family will again be in attendance, including his father, Joey Porter Sr., a former Pittsburgh Steeler who has fully embraced his son's trade to Dallas, in part due to his own longtime love and fandom of the Cowboys — as quiet as that was kept until now.
"Hopefully, it's gonna be a good turnout," said Porter Jr. about his next attempt to debut at AT&T Stadium. "Hopefully, it'll be loud. It'll be my first time [playing] there. I've been in it once before, when I was in college, so that's gonna be unreal to play there, finally."
The former second round pick has proven himself worthy of the hype, a true shutdown corner that continues to negate whoever he's lined up against through his first three games in a Cowboys' uniform.
He's been targeted a total of nine times and allowed only two receptions for a total of 10 yards, has two pass breakups and has allowed a passer rating of only 39.6 from opposing quarterbacks.
Seems good.
"I just have to keep playing with that energy, and keep the main thing the main thing" he said. "There's obviously stuff for me to fix. But, in this league, you've gotta take your wins when they happen, and we wanna keep stacking."
Despite having played other positions in his football career, namely, wide receiver, it feels as if Porter was born to be a cornerback, taking to it quickly and at a high level once he was converted to the position late in his high school football career.
On Thursday, he explained why he loves it so much better than other positions.
"I can dictate the game," he admitted. "As a wide receiver, you have to hope your play gets called. He's gotta throw it your way and you've got to catch it. With defense, if they're not throwing it your way, you can get active in the run game. … [But] I enjoy it when they try me. Like in the Packers game, I enjoyed it because I got a lot of targets. I don't really get that often.
"And when you're in the kitchen, in the fire like that, it's fun to show off your talent."
The kitchen in Arlington welcomes him with open arms and a chef's hat, anxious to see what he'll cook up after being unable to a few weeks ago.
