Cowher makes decision after yesterday's practice

Friday, September 19, 2003

By Shelly Anderson, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

It was what Joey Porter had been waiting to hear since his body was pierced by a bullet in the wee hours of Aug. 31.

	Cutline Steelers Report: 9/19/03

"He'll start," coach Bill Cowher said yesterday at the end of Steelers practice.

Porter will take his spot at right outside linebacker Sunday when the Steelers play the Bengals in Cincinnati. He'll play in the team's base defense and perhaps some nickel and dime specialty packages.

"This was just going out there [in practice], being able to play football like I know how instead of going out there and hurting the team," said Porter, an All-Pro. "I showed them what I could do when I was out there, and I guess that was good enough to get his approval.

"I feel good being able to go out there and play football again. It's amazing how fast I was able to get back out there. When it first happened, I really was thinking two to eight weeks was very possible, but it healed up so fast and it feels so good right now that it's not even that I'm pushing myself to get back out there. I'm really healed right now."

Any decision to hold him back or limit his time in the game will be based on his conditioning, not on any lingering physical problems linked directly to the shooting.

"He hasn't played in two weeks and hasn't done much until this past week, so there's nothing etched in stone," Cowher said. "We'll just have to see how he feels."

Porter is confident he can play as much as the Steelers need or want him to in his first game of the season.

"I'm ready to go," he said. "I've pretty much got my role back. If they don't want to give me the whole load, I'll just do what I can do and ease myself back into situations. But I'm ready to take on the full load that I had before I left."

Porter was shot as he left a bar in Denver at closing time. A 9 mm bullet passed through the left side of his buttocks and lodged in his right thigh. Police have said Porter was not an intended victim in the shooting, which left one man dead and five people wounded. He had traveled to attend a college football game between his alma mater, Colorado State, and Colorado the weekend before the Steelers' regular season opened.

Fourth-year pro Clark Haggans filled in for Porter the first two games, making 10 tackles, including a sack.

It was originally thought Porter might miss up to half the season, but he was able to begin working out last week before Cowher ruled him out of the Steelers' game at Kansas City. He was listed as questionable Tuesday and practiced in pads Wednesday for the first time since the shooting. He was upgraded to probable yesterday morning before Cowher announced in the afternoon he would start.

After Wednesday's practice, Porter said he had heavy feet from being rusty. Yesterday, he said his feet felt good.

"The soreness is there in my legs from working out all week, but besides that I feel normal," he said. "The wound is healed. It's closed up."

The incident and the resulting interest in his recovery unnerved Porter some.

"I hate for me to get media attention in a situation like this," he said. "It's sad it had to happen like that, but at the same time the outpouring from the fans and everybody who's been looking out for me, sending me messages, telling me they hope I can get back, that's a beautiful thing.

"You kind of take the game for granted, but when you can't play it anymore and you're close to a situation where you don't know if you're ever going to play again, you come to look at the game in a whole other light. So I'm just so happy to get back out there."

How complete does he feel his recovery is?

He would like nothing better than to get to Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna and have the chance to demonstrate "the boot," a little celebratory kick move after a sack.

"No question. The boot will be in effect. I'll just have to get my hands on Kitna before it happens," said Porter, who has 28.5 sacks the past three seasons.

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