The Steelers have faced some big-name wide receivers this year, but Nico Collins will be a challenge for the secondary. CB Joey Porter Jr. believes his unit is up for the challenge, even while hinting that it’s not his alone. Making the Pro Bowl for the second straight year, Collins is the Texans’ primary receiving threat by a wide margin.
At 6-4, 222 pounds, Collins will give the Steelers’ secondary a rare challenge. They have had some practice, however, against Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. This year, they also faced Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Zay Flowers, Justin Jefferson, and others. In terms of physical attributes, though, they don’t really stack up.
The Steelers, in fact, have one of the rare wide receivers who is in a similar mold to Nico Collins. They have DK Metcalf, who himself is 6-4, 229. Pittsburgh’s secondary has worked against him all season—except for the past two weeks, so it won’t be a complete shock to the system to go against that body type.
“It’s pretty much, you see his game on tape. The big and strong, physical wide receiver”, Joey Porter Jr. said on Steelers Nation Radio about Nico Collins. “He plays bully ball. He’s a guy that they use heavily in that offense, so he will get a lot of targets. The secondary, we’re ready for the matchup. We’re always looking for a good matchup, and this is one of those ones where the game’s gonna be on us, and we get to show out”.
Tee Higgins is the wide receiver most similar to Collins in body type, and he has found success against Porter and the Steelers’ secondary. He caught a touchdown in both games against Pittsburgh this year, and in one game, he went for 96 yards. They allowed Smith-Njigba to catch 8 for 103, Chase 16-161-1, Jefferson 10-126, etc. But they also held Chase to 3 catches for 30 yards in their other matchup. St. Brown caught 4 passes for 54 yards.
The Steelers don’t have to shut Nico Collins down, though; the secondary just has to stop him from taking over. He will make his plays—he has 50-plus yards in all but two games this year. But as long as they control the matchup, they can manage the game.
Meanwhile, they have to hope, perhaps, that DK Metcalf can have success on the other side. The Texans have a better secondary than the Steelers, and Collins had a better season than Metcalf. There’s a reason that Houston is favored in this game, but they don’t play the games on paper.