DENVER—Jawing with Joey Porter never ends well.
Brandon Marshall found that out in the Denver Broncos’ 26-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
Marshall, frustrated with his two-catch afternoon, began lipping off to Miami’s feisty linebacker.
Porter, never one to back down from a war of words, happily obliged, opening up a spirited dialogue.
“He had me on my game today,” Porter said, smiling. “When you’re giving me all your attention, I know you’re not on your game.”
Neither Marshall nor the Broncos (4-4) were on their game, courtesy of an opportunistic Dolphins defense that intercepted Jay Cutler three times and held Denver to just 14 yards rushing—the Broncos’ lowest total in 36 years.
Marshall entered the game as the league’s third-leading receiver with 49 receptions, but didn’t catch his first pass until late in the third quarter.
The more Cutler looked the other way, the more Marshall engaged Porter.
And Porter loves to chitchat, especially with a restless receiver.
“I didn’t get inside his head, we just were talkin’,” Porter said. “He got in his own head. He was done. He’s one of those soft receivers, where he has to have the ball all the time. If he don’t get it, he’s going to mope and cry. He did it to himself.”
Marshall was seething after the game, upset with both the performance of the offense and defense against Miami (4-4).
He watched Miami receiver Greg Camarillo haul in 11 passes from Chad Pennington for 111 yards, mostly against Karl Paymah, who started in place of injured Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey.
Paymah was giving Camarillo plenty of cushion—too much in Marshall’s opinion.
“If I was a receiver going against our defense and they’re stacking the box and we’re playing a 1-high defense and eight in the box, and the DBs are 10 yards off of me, I’m going to catch 10, 12 balls a game,” Marshall said. “It’s simple. Tighten up the coverage and just play ball. It’s simple. It’s real simple.”
Marshall hauled in a 77-yard touchdown catch late in the third quarter, but it was nullified when he was flagged for pushing off safety Jason Allen.
He took issue with the call.
“There was definitely some contact, but this type of game, this type of environment, you’ve got to let us play,” Marshall said. “It’s a physical game.”
Allen agreed with side judge Allen Baynes’ ruling, not that he expected to see a flag.
“In (this) environment, coming on the road, I really can’t expect to get a call like that. We got a call that worked in our favor,” Allen said.
The touchdown would’ve tied the game at 16, the extra point still pending.
Instead, Cutler later threw his third interception of the game to Tyrone Culver, setting up one of Dan Carpenter’s four field goals.
The Dolphins sealed the win with a 15-play drive in the fourth quarter, punctuated by Ronnie Brown’s 2-yard touchdown romp with 3:08 remaining.
“When we needed to respond, we did,” Camarillo said. “That is what a good offense will do—takes what the defense gives you. We were able to do that.”
Marshall wasn’t the only player jabbering with Porter—Cutler tried to engage him as well.
“He was trying to be buddy, buddy at the wrong time,” Porter said. “He just was talking … He really wasn’t saying nothin’.”
After the game, Porter went in search of Marshall, but he had already retreated to the locker room.
“He went from not talking to me to wanting to talk to me every play,” Porter said. “He’s one of those guys that if he don’t get the ball in the first two series in the first quarter, he’s out of it. He had 18 catches in a game before. So, he’s not used to going the whole first half with no balls. We got in his head and he pretty much was done.”
Notes:@ Broncos rookie FB Peyton Hillis caught seven passes for 116 yards, becoming the first running back in team history to gain 100 yards in a game through the air since Floyd Little in 1974. … The only time Denver rushed for fewer yards was on Oct. 22, 1972, when they ran for just 13 at Oakland. … Dolphins CB Will Allen had a 32-yard interception return for a touchdown, the first of his career. … The Broncos lost LB D.J. Williams to a torn MCL in his knee, starting RB Michael Pittman to a re-injured neck and FS Marlon McCree to a sprained ankle.
