Joey Porter Jr. was in the Dallas Cowboys locker room before last Thursday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and then he was on his way home. The cornerback explained Wednesday what happened that day, and said he expects to play a full game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.
“I really just couldn’t hold anything down,” Porter said. “I just kept throwing up. I tried to fight through. I tried to take a nap before the game just to shake it off, but I just couldn’t hold anything down. So that’s when they made the call to send me home.”
“Throwing up outside of my Uber”
Porter said the illness started the morning of the game. “My throat was itchy in the morning when we had our little walkthroughs, and I was trying to get on top of it,” he said. He told the training staff, who gave him medicine, but it kept getting worse through the afternoon. By then he was in a rideshare on the way from the team facility in Frisco to AT&T Stadium.
“On my way to the game, that’s when I realized,” he said. “I was throwing up outside of my Uber on the way to the game. So it was brutal, not going to lie.”
The timing hurt. Porter had played 25 of 52 defensive snaps in his Cowboys debut, a 34-30 win at Houston on October 4, only days after Dallas acquired him from the Pittsburgh Steelers for a 2027 sixth-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick. The Bucs game was supposed to bring a bigger role and his first home game with his new team. Instead Dallas lost 24-16 and gave up 241 rushing yards.
“It’s very frustrating. I was prepared to play all week,” he said. “The mindset was to get the dub, and obviously I didn’t get to do that, and we didn’t get the dub. So I was pretty pissed my little couple days off.” He said his father told him to “keep the main thing the main thing” and focus on Green Bay.
No pitch count planned
The schedule helped. Because the Bucs game was on a Thursday, the Cowboys had 10 days before Sunday night’s trip to Lambeau Field. “I feel great. Those extra days definitely help,” Porter said. “It helped me really lock in with the playbook, too. So it was a win-win.”
Asked whether he is still on a pitch count or whether this is a full game, he did not hesitate. “Definitely. That’s what I’m shooting for. That’s what they’re shooting for as well,” he said. “So that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
Porter was listed as limited on Wednesday’s injury report with an ankle issue. Thursday’s and Friday’s reports will show whether that changes before the trip.
A defense still looking for its first interception
Porter arrives in a secondary that badly needs him. Dallas has not intercepted a pass through five games, and cornerbacks Cobie Durant and Ameer Speed did not practice Wednesday. He said the room talks about it openly. “There’s not enough ball production in the room, and that’s what we’re striving to get better at,” Porter said. “It’s definitely a little mini competition going on in the room.”
His answer for how to fix it was simple. “The best answer is to catch the ball,” he said. “We just got to make our plays when they come to us and catch our gifts when they happen.” Asked if interceptions come in bunches, he smiled: “Definitely. You got to be living right.”
Porter, 26, had three interceptions and 31 passes defensed in three seasons with Pittsburgh, often while quarterbacks threw away from him. He said that is part of what he likes about the position. “It’s a respect thing,” he said. “If I’m not getting no work, that’s the beautiful thing about defense. You can find your own work. If they’re not looking towards you, then that’s when you need to get in the run game and show your presence.”
He also pointed to the arrival of senior defensive assistant Mike Pettine as a sign of where the team’s head is. “It just showed that we’re trying to get things done the right way and we’re trying to win,” he said. Asked how close the defense is to putting four full quarters together, he said, “It’s right there. We all know it’s a couple plays that’s holding us back.”
The 2-3 Cowboys visit the 3-2 Packers on Sunday, October 18, at 8:20 p.m. EDT.
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