With less than four minutes to go in yesterday’s 48-28 loss to the Patriots, Dolphin linebacker Joey Porter picked up unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on consecutive plays. Both penalties appeared to be quite purposeful and Tony Sparano tried to remedy his out-of-control player by sending backup Charlie Anderson in to replace him.

Porter responded by refusing to leave the field and ordered Anderson to return to the bench, according to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. Porter, in a rare speechless moment, didn’t speak to the media following the game. Salguero doesn’t have any comment from Sparano about the incident either.

That’s a pretty deliberate act of insubordination and it will be interesting to see how the Dolphins handle it going forward. Porter got away with murder when Cam Cameron was the head coach, but Bill Parcells didn’t fire Cameron so the inmates could continue to run the asylum. Porter leads the team and the NFL with 14.5 sacks, so the team clearly needs him on the field but Sparano and Parcells can’t afford to let a player, no matter how integral, overrule coaching decisions on a whim.