But he didn't, and Cam Wake was clearly the more dangerous pass rusher when he was in. Everyone saw it, which is why on this message board and the others there were countless threads wondering why Cam Wake didn't see more snaps.
I'd like to think that what you say is wrong as I hope that Sparano would be consistent on how he treats players, regardless of what they might bring to the table. We've seen this numerous times with Belichick -- he doesn't care what your performance is, if you undermine him, you're gone. But, in a sense you're correct as well in that if he was producing as expected, there wouldn't be the need or desire to pull him or rest him, etc. But that would also mean that Porter wouldn't be or acting the way he is now as he'd be content with how he's being used.
If this was 2008 Porter would have a fine argument, but it's not and he wasn't the best LB on the team last season. Taylor makes as many plays as he does and he can play the run a lot better. Not to mention he doesn't have the mouth to deal with. When you are a linebacker in your 30s and you're getting hurt all the time and you are nonexistent in at least as many games as you matter in, any coach with common sense is going to start thinking about plan B and trying to get that plan B guy on the field. Maybe Joey should address how he ran his mouth about New England and proceeded to become invisible for 60 minutes. Outside of a couple of games JP did next to nothing and he's going on like he was playing at a pro bowl level.
I love jason taylor and he played a solid season for us but honestly, the guy disapeared at times this year. Hes getting old, thats all. As for wake, the kid played well in the little playing time he actually got.
That's not the whole story though bro. When Taylor was brought in he was going to be a situational "pass rusher". Sparano was going to limit the amount of snaps that Taylor played on early downs and use him as a pass rushing specialist. That never happened though. Instead we had the whole Matt Roth Fiasco and that forced Taylor to play on running downs and to keep his snap count in check they eventually started taking Taylor off on passing downs. Let me say that another way They took the current Sack leader off the field on passing downs. While playing primarily in running situations he still managed 7 sacks 5 Passes defensed and one Interception. His QB rating when thrown at was a 39.9 which places him in a three way tie for first among 3-4 OLB's withBertrand Berry (arz) and DeMarcus Ware (Dal). Indecently Roth is in third place on that list at 56.3.
Matty Roth was the first clue that things were off balance in Miami this season. One thing people may be missing out of all of this, Joey Porter and Channing Crowder are not Sparano and Ireland choices, they were inherited, the Ireland players have STFU up so far. If/When Joey Porter leaves the Dolphins D will be down to: Crowder, Soliai, Will Allen, YBell, Jason Allen as the only holdovers from the 2007 defense. Slowly but surely, the non Sparano Guys are being weeded out..
If it comes down to keeping 2 of the 3 mentioned I'll take Taylor and Wake over Porter. Sure Taylor is getting old, but he's a Dolphin to the end. Wake is good and has a great upside. Porter is getting old and his mouth is writing checks his old a$$ can't cover anymore. While I can repect the "I want to play every down" attitude, his BS and lack of respect for the front office makes him a problem in the locker room. A problem guy in the locker room breed discontent which we do not need and the team should not tolerate. When he joined the team it needed his skills AND attitude. That time has now passed, and the team can't afford to have his attitude around anymore. JT, if he returns, needs to take the reigns, regardless of playing time, and be THE leader for the defense. JT can mentor the young guys, teach them that talent AND hard work (not running your mouth when you make a routine tackle) will pay dividends in this league. At this point all Joey can show them is ME, ME, ME...
Bottom line Joey, you needed to man up and play better and cool the young up and comer Wake down, and you couldn't do it. I say shut your pie hole. I will be glad when he is gone. The difference with Jason is he is all class no matter what happens, something that Joey will never learn.