Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Graham
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Joey Porter was mouthy during the week, but the New England Patriots didn't hear a peep from him Sunday afternoon in Gillette Stadium.
In beating the Miami Dolphins 27-17, the Patriots silenced Porter in the box score and on the field.
"Yeah, you don't hear anything when he's not going," Patriots guard Logan Mankins said.
In the waning moments of the game, the Gillette Stadium video scoreboard showed a shot of Porter slumped on the bench. A message noted he had zero tackles. Porter finished with not even an assist. He had no sacks, no passes defensed, no forced fumbles or recoveries.
"That means he wasn't doing anything that he likes to do, which is harass the quarterback," Mankins said. "That's the main thing he wants to do is get sacks. And in the run game he's all right, I guess, but his main thing is pass rushing. Today the tackles did a good job of shutting him down."
Porter did register one of Miami's seven quarterback hits, but that's a trivial performance from someone who declared the Patriots' championships deserve asterisks and alleged quarterback Tom Brady gets preferential treatment from officials.
Porter was quiet after the game, too, heading straight for the charter bus when the visitors' locker room was opened to reporters.
The Patriots played without two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Matt Light and lost Pro Bowl center Dan Koppen for the second half because of a knee injury.
Randy Starks and Cameron Wake dropped Brady for the Dolphins' only sacks. The Dolphins played without nose tackle Jason Ferguson and inside linebacker Channing Crowder, but Porter probably knew the task at hand when he ripped the Patriots three days earlier on the NFL Network.
Mankins said the Patriots contained the AFC's reigning sack king heads up.
"They're good across the line," Mankins said of the Dolphins. "We had a lot of one-on-ones in the passing game, and everyone seemed to come through for the most part."
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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Joey Porter was mouthy during the week, but the New England Patriots didn't hear a peep from him Sunday afternoon in Gillette Stadium.
In beating the Miami Dolphins 27-17, the Patriots silenced Porter in the box score and on the field.
"Yeah, you don't hear anything when he's not going," Patriots guard Logan Mankins said.
In the waning moments of the game, the Gillette Stadium video scoreboard showed a shot of Porter slumped on the bench. A message noted he had zero tackles. Porter finished with not even an assist. He had no sacks, no passes defensed, no forced fumbles or recoveries.
"That means he wasn't doing anything that he likes to do, which is harass the quarterback," Mankins said. "That's the main thing he wants to do is get sacks. And in the run game he's all right, I guess, but his main thing is pass rushing. Today the tackles did a good job of shutting him down."
Porter did register one of Miami's seven quarterback hits, but that's a trivial performance from someone who declared the Patriots' championships deserve asterisks and alleged quarterback Tom Brady gets preferential treatment from officials.
Porter was quiet after the game, too, heading straight for the charter bus when the visitors' locker room was opened to reporters.
The Patriots played without two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Matt Light and lost Pro Bowl center Dan Koppen for the second half because of a knee injury.
Randy Starks and Cameron Wake dropped Brady for the Dolphins' only sacks. The Dolphins played without nose tackle Jason Ferguson and inside linebacker Channing Crowder, but Porter probably knew the task at hand when he ripped the Patriots three days earlier on the NFL Network.
Mankins said the Patriots contained the AFC's reigning sack king heads up.
"They're good across the line," Mankins said of the Dolphins. "We had a lot of one-on-ones in the passing game, and everyone seemed to come through for the most part."
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ABOUT THIS BLOG
Tim Graham
Graham joined ESPN.com in 2008 after covering the Miami Dolphins for the Palm Beach Post. He previously spent eight years at the Buffalo News, where he was an award-winning NHL and boxing writer. The Baldwin-Wallace College grad also has worked for the Las Vegas Sun and Boston Herald.