Joey Porter Jr. Details Brutal Illness That Spoiled Cowboys Home Debut

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Joey Porter Jr. missed Week 5 due to a sudden illness the day of the game.

Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (24) on the sidelines during the first quarter against the Atlanta Falcons at Acrisure Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Dallas Cowboys suffered an embarrassing 24-16 home loss on Thursday Night Football last week to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who entered the game winless and led by an undrafted rookie quarterback.

It might have not mattered much, but the Cowboys certainly missed the presence during the game of newly-acquired cornerback Joey Porter Jr., who was surprisingly ruled inactive prior to kickoff due to an illness. The team eventually decided to send him home to rest up.

Porter Jr. played a handful of snaps in his Cowboys debut against the Houston Texans a few days prior in Week 4 and looked solid, making it a disappointment for Dallas fans to find out he would not be available for his potential home debut.

Porter Jr.'s Cowboys home debut will still have to wait, but ahead of Week 6's primetime matchup against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, he's finally revealing what happened when he came down with an illness before Week 5.

Joey Porter Jr. on Illness: "It Was Brutal"

Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (24) against the New York Jets during the first half at Acrisure Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Porter Jr. didn't hesitate to admit how awful he felt the day of the Tampa Bay game.

He tried to tough it out but simply couldn't deal with the nausea as he made his way to AT&T Stadium.

“My throat was itchy in the morning when we had our little walkthrough and I was trying to get on top of it,” Porter said, per ESPN's Todd Archer. “I told them about it. They gave me the right stuff for it and then throughout the day it just kept getting worse and worse. And on my way to the game, that's when I realized when I was throwing up outside of my Uber on the way to the game. So it was brutal, not going to lie.”

Fortunately, Porter Jr. has had a mini bye to get healthy in time for Week 6. After being on a snap count against the Texans, he said he expects to take on a larger role in Green Bay on Sunday night.

Joey Porter Jr. Impressed in Cowboys Debut

Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. watches the action against the Green Bay Packers during the first half at Acrisure Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Cowboys defense has struggled and there's no doubt Porter Jr.'s return and increased snap count will make the unit better as a whole.

Against Houston, he played 16 coverage snaps while allowing zero targets and zero catches.

Sure, this was with limited playing time. But considering that DaRon Bland got torched all day long by CJ Stroud and the Texans' receivers, it says a lot that Porter Jr. didn't allow any production on his side.

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