CINCINNATI – Andrew Whitworth has respect for many in the Pittsburgh Steelers' organization.
The Cincinnati Bengals veteran offensive tackle even respects Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, going as far as giving Tomlin a hug at midfield following Saturday night’s Bengals loss in an AFC wild-card-round playoff game, and apologizing to him for the game's unnecessarily chippy nature.
"I've got a ton of respect for those guys," Whitworth said. "But Joey Porter is not one of them."
A former Steelers linebacker, Porter is now an assistant in Pittsburgh following a playing career that spanned 13 seasons and ended in 2011. He was also the man at the middle of an exchange with Bengals cornerback Adam Jones that contributed in part to Cincinnati's late-game collapse.
But that isn't the primary reason Whitworth has no respect for Porter.
"He's a guy that has always run his mouth," Whitworth said. "He's always been disrespectful to people."
It's for that reason the Bengals are all the more upset that Jones responded to Porter during an on-field altercation on Saturday night's penultimate play.
"They knew who Joey Porter is," Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said. "You can't do that in that situation."
Jones angrily tried to respond to Porter's comments on the field while Steelers receiver Antonio Brown was being administered medical assistance following a hard hit from Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict. Along with Burfict's 15-yard penalty for the hit on Brown, Jones was slapped with another 15 yards for confronting Porter. The 30 yards of penalties came just before Chris Boswell kicked a 35-yard chip shot to give the Steelers the 18-16 win in the closing seconds.
Whitworth highlighted the Bengals' previous meeting with the Steelers on Dec. 13 as another moment when he felt Porter was most disrespectful to him and his teammates. It was during both teams' pregame stretching routines that a scuffle broke out with Burfict in the middle of it.
"He was out at midfield m-f'ing everybody, wanting to fight, and then he was doing that in this game," Whitworth said of Porter. "He's not a football player anymore, he's a coach, so he's got to be held to a higher standard. I think the unprofessionalism he shows is just ridiculous. It really is. So that's unfortunate.
"The guy was a good football player, but as a coach, I would hope he learns to have a little more respect for players. … You're a coach. You shouldn't be out there enticing the fight or in any way adding to it. We talk about the NFL shield all the time. As a coach, you're out there to represent the league in the sense of what the league wants. If you're going to be a coach in their league, you shouldn't be out there in that way."
Added Whitworth: "To me, Joey Porter just doesn't have a lot of class."