How the Dolphins Can Go .500: Let Porter Run His Mouth

So, for yet another week, we hear reports of Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter "running his mouth." The three-time Prow Bowler spent the days leading up to Dolphins' Week 3 matchup against New England reportedly saying that Matt Cassel was "no Tom Brady" and guaranteeing the Dolphins' win. Now, two weeks later to the Miami Herald, Porter says he didn't say any of that and that his quotes got construed. What he did say, according to Porter, was that the Fins would "try" to get a win. He did tell the press that he thought the practice of talking up opponents made them sound like "robots," and that he wasn't going to talk like everyone else becuase that's not how people really think. 

    The Miami Herald reports: 

    "It's all set up for you to be like robots,'' Porter said. "[Players are] supposed to come in here and say, `Yeah, he's great.' In the back of your mind, in your heart, you know you want to go out there and win the game. That's your mind-set. You practice all week to go out there and win. But in my interviews, I'm supposed to say how great he is? Why do I really want to talk about how good he is? You think he's over there really thinking, 'Man, those guys are really good.' No. He's like `We're going to whup their [behind] this weekend.

    'That's the mind-set of a player. I'm not going into a game like, `You're really good, man.' Who does that? Who does that? Who do you play in basketball and say, 'Man, you're good. You can take me to the hole every time.' Who does that? Nobody does that. But that's the rule that you have to play the game. So you look at all the boring interviews, everybody's like, 'He's a great guy.' I could give you that. I could talk like everybody else in the league.''

This is nothing new in the life of Joey Porter, we've been hearing it for years. But this season, over last, his comments actually precede a win. We heard comments all last season from Porter, guaranteeing win after win, and all he got was one. The press tore him apart with laughter last season for his empty threats, but, this year, Porter seems to be trying to make a statement. He ties the league for third in the league with five sacks in three games-the same number of sacks he had the entire 2007 season-and is also tied for second with two forced fumbles. He is the only NFL player to ever post five sacks in every season for the past decade, according to Yahoo! News.  He's posted career-high 10.5 sacks twice, in 2000 and 2005 with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

So let him run his mouth. He's been doing it for years and, finally, the Dolphins defense is embracing it. Porter's once-elite status seems to be returning. This week against San Diego we'll see if Porter really is making a comeback or if his three sacks against Cassel Week 3 were just an experienced linebacker against an inexperienced quarterback. If he can get inside the head of his opponent, he's done his job. So far, his job seems to be exactly what he's doing.

BY THE NUMBERS: In his 4-game career against San Diego, Porter totals 3.5 sacks for 24 yards lost and a total of 16 tackles, 14 solo.