--LB Joey Porter said it was important for him to notch a career-high 17. 5 sacks and shut up all the detractors he encountered after his first season in Miami. "Two years ago I was the big offseason transaction for the team coming to Miami," he said. "We go 1-15. I don't get to put up the numbers I would like to put up being a Pro Bowl player. Just having everyone on me like that. It's been a while since I had guys on me like that. I read the papers a little bit. I try not to but when they're saying, 'Joey Porter's lost a step, he doesn't have it anymore. How can they sign him? ... On the other end, (James) Harrison over there in Pittsburgh is playing so good, now it's like they were smart in Pittsburgh getting rid of him right when they needed to. When I come in this year and have the season I had, just going out there and making plays, it's exactly what I needed to do for my career."
--LT Jake Long made the Pro Bowl in his first season, and coach Tony Sparano said he had no regrets about taking Long with the first overall draft pick instead of Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. Sparano said, "Different people have different philosophies with this whole thing. You look at the way that whole thing went down. We feel like we got a very good player in Jake. I'm sure, I can't speak for Atlanta, but (Ryan) is a heck of a player. At the end of this whole thing, from our end it's always been our philosophy that you start there, up front. My background is that way. Bill's background and history is one where you do start with the lines and you try to get the big people first. The tackle was available, and a left tackle in this league is at a premium. We were fortunate to get Jake. He has everything we were looking for in the makeup."
--Sparano is sick of all the Ted Ginn Jr. bashers. "Look at the big balls he's caught, and the big games he's had. Without Ted we don't have a chance to be where we were."
--CB Bryant McFadden attended high school at McArthur High in South Florida and if the Steelers don't re-sign him, the free agent wouldn't be against coming home. "My first option is going back to the Steelers, but I'm looking for a nice little check," McFadden said.
--Dolphins coach Tony Sparano and assistant coaches Dave DeGuglielmo and John Bonamego attended the Daytona 500 last week. Sparano used to work as chef at a hotel across the street from the track when he briefly attended the University of Central Florida in the early '80s. "At the time it was paying OK," Sparano said of his culinary job. "When I was in college I lived not very far from the track. As we were driving in, so much of this has changed, but this dog track that was right across the street there was a hotel right next door. I used to work at that hotel. My uncle used to work in the pits down here so I'd come to a few of them. I was so young I never really understood."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "No, actually I didn't. We laughed like, 'Is this what it has come to? We're going to run these type of plays to generate offense.' It was kind of a joke we were watching Ronnie (Brown) catch passes, running around, throwing. What are we doing?" - LB Joey Porter's first impression of the Wildcat formation.
