Brady: Porter's trash talk 'motivated' Patriots

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said Monday that the team used Joey Porter's trash talk as a spark leading up to Sunday's 27-17 victory over the Miami Dolphins.

"It's really motivating for our team throughout the course of the week and into the game when you hear that kind of stuff," Brady said on his weekly appearance on the "Dennis & Callahan" show on Boston radio station WEEI. "I think the guys take it to heart and the coaches take it to heart."

Last week, Porter said there was "no question" that Brady is getting favorable calls from officials this season. Brady missed most of the 2008 season with a knee injury suffered when he was hit by a player on the ground. In March, the NFL clarified a rule, making it a personal foul for a player on the ground to lunge and hit a quarterback below the knee unless he's blocked or fouled. Some have referred to it as the "Brady Rule."

In a game against Baltimore on Oct. 4, Brady gestured that he'd been hit in the knee by a player on the ground. The referee, Ron Winter, threw the flag on Ravens defender Terrell Suggs, giving the Patriots a first down on a drive that led to a touchdown. New England won the game 27-21.

"When a guy can tell a ref when to throw a flag and he gets it and stuff like that, he got his own rules," Porter said in an interview with the NFL Network that aired last Thursday. "They made the whole [rule that you] don't go at the legs because of Tom. So when he feels that someone is coming at his legs, he just points at the ref and he gets a flag. So you've got to honestly say that he got his own rules."

Brady, in response, told The Boston Globe on Friday: "No, I don't think so. You may get more calls [for roughing the passer this year than in the past]. I don't know. I don't think I've ever influenced a call. I think the ref calls what he sees. I don't think I've ever influenced a call.

"The refs we have are very good. If they make a call on that, great. If they don't, that's fine."

Porter finished without a tackle and sack in Sunday's game. He disappeared after the game when the majority of reporters entered the locker room, but did tell the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "They played good, were ready for us, and beat us."

"He's a great player, he's been a great player for a long time, but it's always great when you come out of the game and you understand that you kept one of their best players from [having] an impact on the game," Brady said on Sunday. "We have to see him again in four weeks, so I'm sure he'll be juiced up for that game. Hopefully we can go out there and perform the same way."

Information from ESPNBoston.com Patriots blogger Mike Reiss is included in this report.