Last modified: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 2:02 AM EST Miami sack leader Joey Porter (ASSOCIATED PRESS) Pats focus on Miami, not Porter BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF FOXBORO - If it's Miami, it must be time for Joey Porter to be mouthing off. The Miami Dolphins' veteran linebacker, who never seems to miss an opportunity to say something incendiary where the Patriots are concerned, threw a little more gasoline on the fire earlier this week when he announced to Miami-area writers that he didn't like this Sunday's opponent at Dolphin Stadium (1 p.m.; Ch. 4, 12). "I don't like them," Porter said. "I ain't never really too much cared for them. It is what it is." Porter's problems with the Patriots involve a couple of perceived slights, one before a game during on-field warmups when the Patriots supposedly ran through the Dolphins' stretching lines, and another involving one of the Dolphins' two losses last year in which he felt the Patriots should have done more to run out the clock. Typical Porter - and as he should know by now, nothing he says can prod the Patriots into similar responses. "He's playing some of his best ball," Patriots' tackle Matt Light said Tuesday of the NFL's current sack leader with 13.5. "He's the leader or up there with the leaders in sacks, and he's one of those guys that you've just got to get a hat on. You can't give anything to him. He's going to take everything he gets." And that was it. Light, like most of his teammates, has been well-schooled in the kill-them-with-kindness method of pre-game oratory that characterizes the Belichick Era Patriots. About the closest he got to being drawn into the Porter give-and-take was when he was asked if there was "bad blood" between the Dolphins and Patriots. "That's kind of the way we all feel, right? When we take the field, we're trying to beat the other guy," he said. "But it is what it is ... it's a huge rivalry, and obviously, we didn't play very well in the first game. I think there's a lot of guys in this locker room that want to put forward a much better performance than we have so far." That would be an understatement. In the Week 3 meeting of the teams at Gillette Stadium, the Patriots lost a 38-13 decision (stopping their 21-game regular-season winning streak in the process) in which Porter had four sacks and was in the Patriots' backfield more times than Laurence Maroney, and in which Ronnie Brown "Wildcatted" the Patriots to death with the unveiling of the trick formation that has become all the rage in the NFL. That, instead of Porter's latest foolishness, is what Light wanted to talk about Tuesday. "We didn't get anything going offensively," Light said of the September meeting. "I'm not going to speak on behalf of the defense or special teams, but I thing that collectively, we've all got to do something more. All of the things that we've struggled with, we can't have that happen down there, whether it's the red area or finishing some of these plays, especially on third down and things like that. We have a lot of work ahead of us." The Dolphins, who share a 6-4 record with the Patriots but have the tiebreaking edge in both head-to-head and divisional play, have earned the right to be called a contender, Light said. "They're a tough team," he said. "They're very physical. These guys do all the little things, all the technique-type stuff that they do up front, and with the movement they get out of their linebackers and the speed at which they play, it makes them very difficult. "You've got to be very sound in what you do because they're going to have a good game plan, they're going to be very physical up front, and they're not going to make many mistakes. We've got to play very well," he added. That may be tougher than it seems. Light said he didn't think the Patriots have played with enough consistency to be regarded as playing "Patriot football" during this injury-riddled season. "I wouldn't say we're being extremely consistent to this point," he said. "We've gotten into a bit of a rhythm, and due to whatever reason, whether it's guys coming in and out due to injury or whatever else, we've had to mix things up quite a bit. "I think we all feel like, 'a play here and a play there,'" he added. "But at this point in the season, we can't be talking about 'a play here or a play there.' You've got to go out and make the play. This is a critical part of the season for us. Any time you get to this point in the season, every game has that much more weight. They're playing a really good style right now, and obviously, they really gave us some problems in that first game. It's going to be a big test for us." MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.