Joey Porter was one of the key ingredients in the 3-4 defense that Bill Cowher constructed when he became the Steelers coach in 1992. For eight seasons, he was an outside linebacker who supplied the pressure necessary to sack the quarterback.
The Steelers had a litany of players who performed that role before Porter, including Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Chad Brown and Jason Gildon. There were several who did it after him, most notably James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley, a tandem that produced 89½ sacks in a four-year period, beginning in 2008.
“I tell them every day, the inside linebackers and the outside guys, it’s the reason we put four of them on the field,” said Porter, who coaches the outside linebackers.