Joey Porter's New Guarantee

Part of it was that most fans were caught unaware. No Zach Thomas. No depth on the defensive line. The bedrock of the team over the last decade, good run defense, was nowhere to be seen. Porter was just one of the letdowns in a season full of them. Naturally, his recent signing served to amplify any ill feelings.

When Porter made a guarantee of victory before the Week Four game against the Raiders, the stage was set. The Raiders blew holes through the Dolphins' defense and racked up 299 rushing yards. In the eyes of many fans, J-Peezy was left holding the check.

Porter himself understands the feelings. "Fans have some say. To point their fingers, I understand, they say, 'We brought this guy in here and he's not taking over games like we thought he was going to do.' But last year is last year. I'm so happy to put that behind me. I think this year is going to bring a lot better things for us."

The fact is that Joey Porter is a good football player. After his knee healed, he adjusted to his new role. He played defensive end in college, and he began to make plays for a team that desperately needed them.

There was many a game where I watched only Porter during the fourth quarter. The game often long over, Porter still barked at his lounging teammates and lined up every down like he could change the course of the entire game.

Porter finished the season with respectable numbers, and his best plays came when most needed. He dominated his old team, Pittsburgh, during the legendarily sloppy Monday Night Football game. His open-field tackle for loss of RB Willis McGahee late in the Ravens game helped (along with Jason Taylor’s field-goal block) the Dolphins avoid eternal infamy as the only defeated, 0-16 team.

Now Porter is back to playing outside linebacker in a true 3-4 defense. According to new defensive coordinator, Paul Pasqualoni, Porter has brought his 6’3” frame up to 260 lbs; adding 10-lbs of muscle while developing better speed.

J-Peezy is now playing on a Dolphins team that has 47 new faces out of a total of 53. So he isn’t the only pushing to a return to form. The potential for a Porter/Taylor combo still exists. That is if old No. 99 can buy into the team and return to practice.

The bottom line is that in Porter, the Dolphins will have a chance to still get what they paid for. Personally, I think they will. The scheme and the training will pay off for J-Peezy. 

This, of course, will make things interesting in Miami. He wasn’t able to shoot his mouth off last year. Losing kind of takes that away. Not since Brian Cox left have the Dolphins had a guy who could “jaw” and play in an entertaining way. That being said, Porter makes Cox look like a boy scout.

Will Porter be humbled by this process? Might he be permanently silenced by a miserable season?

No, he won't. Don’t ever bet on finding Joey Porter humble. Instead of maintaining silence and waiting for the next season, Porter has made a new guarantee. I like his odds at fulfilling this one.

"I'm going to be the guy fans were coming to see."

So says the 2008 model of J-Peezy. The proof, as Joey would probably tell you, will only be known when the big-boy pads go on.

www.thephinisher.com

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