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Steelers' Porter in rush to regain form
Player - Sacks
Joey Porter - 23.0
Kendrell Bell - 18.0
Aaron Smith - 15.5
K. von Oelhoffen - 15.0
Clark Haggans - 7.0
Joey Porter
Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review
Joe Starkey can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7810.
That's why he was so determined to get a head start on 2004.
As soon as last season ended, Porter went home to Bakersfield, Calif., for an unusually rigorous offseason.
"Usually, I give my body a rest and take all of January and February off," Porter said from minicamp this past weekend. "But me being frustrated with what happened last year, I started working out immediately. I was working out at the beginning of January.
"Usually, I think that if I work out too fast, I'll tire myself out for the season. This year, I was like, 'You know what? I gotta get back to my regular form, being able to go out there and play all the downs and not be tired.' "
A week before last year's opener against Baltimore, Porter, an innocent bystander, was wounded in a shooting outside of a Denver sports bar. He needed surgery to remove a bullet that was lodged in his right thigh.
Lucky to have survived, Porter returned to the lineup in Week 3 at Cincinnati. In the ensuing 14 games, however, he rarely displayed the form that won him a Pro Bowl invitation in 2002.
That was the season Porter became the first player to record at least eight sacks and four interceptions since the NFL began recording sacks in 1982.
Porter had nine sacks and four interceptions in 2002. Last year, those numbers dwindled to five and zero in 14 games. His 62 tackles were his fewest since his rookie year of 1999.
"I was so fired up and in shape and ready to go, and then (the shooting) happened, and it automatically kicks you back so far," Porter said. "And during the season, I'm chasing to get back, battling injuries at the same time and just trying to get in the flow of things - but at the end of the season, I thought I played pretty good.
"However it looked out there, I was giving everything I had. But last year's over, man. I definitely feel a lot better now."
Porter's reduced sack total partially was due to his being replaced by Kendrell Bell as the right rush end in the Steelers' dime alignment. That was planned even before Porter was shot.
Bell struggled in the role, and Porter was getting plenty of time there by the end of October. Between 2000-2002, Porter recorded 28.5 sacks, second on the team to Jason Gildon's 34.5 in that stretch.
Count on Porter getting plenty of opportunities to chase quarterbacks this season, often out of the right rush end spot.
"He certainly would be in the mix, yeah," defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau said. "He has speed and he has proven he can evade people and finish with sacks - and he does look to be in real good shape right now."
Porter, 26, says he'll be content in any role.
Will this be his best season yet?
"We'll see," he said. "I've been working out hard enough, so I'm going to go out there and do some things. I'm definitely excited to get the season cranked up."
