FRISCO, Texas — Joey Porter Jr. has been on a bit of a wild ride these past couple of weeks. In a matter of days, he went from being in a contract stalemate with the Pittsburgh Steelers to suiting up for the Dallas Cowboys on short notice after a blockbuster trade, and then suddenly ruled out of his would-be second outing with an illness.
Porter was seen entering the Cowboys' locker room ahead of their Thursday Night Football matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he looked as poorly as he felt and, after vomiting multiple times, he was sent home by the team.
"I really just couldn't hold anything down," he told DallasCowboys.com on Wednesday, after returning to practice. "You know, I just kept throwing up. I try to fight through. I tried to take a nap before the game, just to shake it off, but I just couldn't hold in deep down.
"So that's when they made the call to send me home."
It certainly wasn't for lack of effort that Porter missed the game. He took a nap to try and feel better after reporting to the team earlier in the day that he felt a little off, apparently then missing the team bus to the stadium and catching a rideshare to try and suit up.
But even the ride to AT&T Stadium was telling of his condition, and he wasn't exactly pleased that he was unavailable to try and stop the eventual letdown against the Buccaneers.
"On my way to the game, I was throwing up outside of my Uber," he said. "It was brutal. I'm not gonna lie. … You go into the week thinking you're gonna get more of a workload, and you're ready to go, and then that's ultimately what doesn't happen.
"It was very frustrating. I was prepared to play all week. My mindset was on playing, the mindset was to get the dub, and obviously I didn't get to do that, and we didn't get the dub. I was pretty pissed."
Porter is now back to full health with the help of a minibye week that allowed more rest and recovery in preparation to travel and take on the Green Bay Packers. After operating on a pitch count in the win over the Houston Texans that would've likely been ramped up a bit against the Bucs, Porter says the added time over the past few days also allowed him to dive completely into learning the entire playbook.
And that means there may not be a pitch count, or any limitations at all, on Porter at Lambeau Field.
"That's what I'm shooting for. That's what they're shooting for as well," he said. "So that's what we're gonna try to do."
