The Miami Dolphins have deactivated Joey Porter for today’s game, in an apparent sign that the team has decided Porter’s mouth is hurting the team more than his production is helping the team.
Steve Mariucci, a former coach with some experience in such situations, warns that the Dolphins could find that deactivating Porter will simply alienate him even more.
“I had to suspend Terrell Owens one week, and then, all of a sudden, for the next three years we just butted heads,” Mariucci said today on NFL Network’s NFL GameDay Morning.
Mariucci was referring to the 2000 incident in which Owens scored two touchdowns for the 49ers in Dallas and celebrated both of them by posing on the Cowboys’ star logo at the 50-yard line. Mariucci, then the 49ers’ head coach, suspended Owens for a game for that, and Mariucci says his relationship with Owens soured as a result -- and that Dolphins coach Tony Sparano’s relationship with Porter could sour as well.
Of course, Sparano probably knows that he’s going to alienate Porter by deactivating him -- he’s probably just reached the point where he doesn’t care what Porter thinks anymore.
Mariucci also pointed out that the Dolphins made this move during a week in which they were preparing to face one of the league’s worst teams.
“When you suspend a guy, you want to make sure you can win without him,” Mariucci said. “Who they playing today? Tampa.”