Miami Dolphins linebacker Jerry Porter and his ever-flapping gums are no strangers to Patriots fans or, for that matter, any NFL fan. Porter's mouth is in a constant state of readiness, and is often in use, belittling his opponents and doing a hefty dose of trash talking. That trend has continued this week leading up to the big AFC East showdown between the Pats and the Fins this Sunday at Gillette Stadium. During a conference call with New England reporters earlier in the week, Porter started out by explaining just how he feels about the Patriots, and those feelings didn't start when he joined the division. "My feelings toward New England go back further. It goes back to my Pittsburgh days. I felt a certain way, after some things came out, way back when I was in Pittsburgh, some AFC championships I lost to them, couple times. Come to figure out a few months later why we lost. So yeah, I have a natural hate for them. Period. And that’s just gonna be with me forever." Just in case you didn't pick up what he was putting down, Jerry Porter feels that the Patriots cheated (SpyGate) when they beat the Steelers during the championship runs earlier in the decade. Needless to say, that didn't go unnoticed by the New England locker room, but nobody has commented on it publicly. I have a funny feeling we may hear from a retired (and now free to speak) Rodney Harrison before this weekend is done. I'm not sure how much a comment  like that will affect these Patriots, as not many players are left from the dynasty teams. Only Tom Brady, Kevin Faulk, and Matt Light remain on the team and were on all three championship teams. Porter kept up the talk and earlier Thursday night, while on "Total Access" on NFL Network, he aimed his forked tongue at Tom Brady. "When a guy can tell a ref when to throw a flag and he gets it and stuff like that, I mean he got his own rules. They made the whole 'don't go at the legs' because of Tom. So whenever he feels that somebody is coming at his legs, he just points at the ref and he gets the flag. So you got to honestly say that he has his own set of rules." Now, most fans agree that there have been a couple of questionable "roughing the passer" calls that have gone in the Patriots favor, some that Brady lobbied for. But he doesn't always get the call. Also, can you really name many quarterbacks that don't ask for a flag when a potentially questionable hit occurs? How often do receivers ask for penalty flags for holding or interference when there was clearly no contact? Why am I even trying to discount comments from Joey Porter? Probably because his mouth annoys the heck out of me. I'm not big on trash talk in general, and one thing Patriots fans can hang their hats on: the Patriots do not talk trash during the week but do it all on the field. Where it belongs. Now, sometimes Porter has been able to back up his mouth with excellent play on the field, including having some great games against the Pats in the past. But there are also times when Porter is a non-factor. That doesn't stop him from running his mouth though. Chris Gaspar from the Boston Globe wrote an opinion piece about how you "gotta love Joey Porter" and that he's "a breath of fresh air." I respectfully disagree because none his talk ever really is play-related, but is, in my opinion, downright ridiculous. He continued on and made clear what he was referring to when talking about New England's championships in his conference call. "I still don't care for New England. The hate's been there for a while, especially after all the cheating they did back in the day. ... They can sweep it under the rug if they want to, but just like anybody else that's cheating that gets caught, you put an asterisk by it. But nobody puts an asterisk by those championships they won." Just gotta love Joey Porter? Nah. Hopefully, the players show Porter how much they "love" him this Sunday. Going 6-2 will broaden the Pats' lead in the division, at the expense of Mr. Porter's Dolphins. Now, keep in mind that not all Miami players share Porter's visceral hatred of all things Patriots. Jason Taylor is good friends with Tom Brady, and Ronnie Brown mentioned earlier in the week that the Dolphins didn't hate the Pats like they hate the Jets (thank you Rex Ryan). I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Fins and think they present a real threat to the Patriots' claim to the AFC East crown. After all, they are the defending division champs. It should be a great (and possibly "chippy") game Sunday! Go Pats!

Tagged as: Jason Taylor, Joey Porter