FOXBORO — You can’t always judge a player’s performance by his statistics, but for someone who talked so much before Sunday’s Patriots-Dolphins game, Miami linebacker Joey Porter sure had a quiet game.

Take a look at the stat sheet and there are a whole lot of zeroes lined up next to Porter’s name: zero tackles, zero assists, zero sacks, zero tackles for loss, though he was credited with one hit on Tom Brady.

That’s a whole lot of nothing for someone who had so much to say.

After the game, Porter told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Miami didn’t turn up the heat on Brady.

“As a team, we got pressure on them, but not enough,” he said. “We could have made more plays out there. But it wasn’t the lack of pass rush why we lost the game. We had our opportunities to win the game. They played good, were ready for us, and beat us.”

Earlier in the week, Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said Porter is being asked to drop back into coverage more, which clearly would affect his chances to get after the quarterback. There also may be a question of whether of not he is healthy. Sparano was asked after the loss if Porter is 100 percent, but he deflected such talk.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with Joey Porter. It really doesn’t. there are a lot of guys out there that were rushing the passer today and not many of them got that close,” he said.

New England, as is its custom when faced with an opponent doing a lot of pre-game crowing, maintained that it would do its talking on the field. Brady opted to credit his offensive line rather than discredit Porter in his post-game comments.

“They have very high expectations for (themselves), so it’s a really great group of offensive linemen and they played great today,” he said. “There weren’t too many pressures or hits, so I had a lot of time to sit back there and make the throws.”

Porter seems to be having a down year after being named to his fourth Pro Bowl after last season. He has just 12 tackles and 2½ sacks on the season after recording 47 and 17½ a year ago.

Arrington promoted

Kyle Arrington got the news every practice-squad player in the NFL dreams about this week: He was being promoted to the 53-man roster.

Things happened quickly for the 23-year old cornerback, whose agent called him on Wednesday and said that Cleveland wanted to sign him to its active roster. New England countered by offering to give Arrington a hefty raise to remain on its practice squad. But Cleveland offered bonuses, a chance to play special teams right away and also the chance to compete as a nickelback.

When it looked like Arrington might leave, the Patriots had no choice but to elevate the former Hofstra standout, releasing veteran offensive lineman Kendall Simmons to make room for him.

Things got even better for Arrington when he found out Sunday morning that he would be active for the game against Miami.

“I had butterflies. Anytime I play, since I was little, I get butterflies,” Arrington said. “Not only to be promoted, but also to dress. You can’t ask for a better Sunday than that.”

Arrington was credited with two special-teams tackles, including late in the game, when he paired with Pierre Woods to stop Ted Ginn Jr. at the 25-yard line on a kickoff.

“I owed him that. He got away from me earlier in the game,” Arrington said.

Gostowski’s big foot

After Ginn had two return touchdowns in New York the week before, there was a lot of talk about slowing down the speedy second-year receiver, and the best defense for New England was keeping the ball out of Ginn’s hands.

Stephen Gostkowski was credited with two touchbacks on the day, though he actually booted three — one was called back because of an offsides call on James Sanders. Sent back an extra five yards for the re-kick, Gostkowski simply put a little bit extra on the ball and sent it through the end zone again.

“That was huge — just a couple of plays that we didn’t have to go out there and cover,” Gostkowski said. “We saw on the first kick that he was pretty dangerous, running around everybody. It’s just a good day for special teams when you can contain a guy like that.”

Ginn averaged 24.3 yards on four returns.

Koppen injured

New England played the second half of the game without center Dan Koppen. At the end of a second-down play toward the end of the second quarter, Koppen’s right knee seemed to buckle. He limped off the field and later was taken back to the locker room. He was not spotted again.

A Pro Bowler in 2007, Koppen has started all but one of the 96 games he has played in with the Pats over his six-plus seasons. Coach Bill Belichick did not have an update on the injury after the game, but called Koppen “a pretty tough guy” and “quick healer.”

Dan Connolly finished the game at center.

Quick kicks

Quote of the day comes from Ty Warren on how the defense handled Miami’s 16-play, 10-minute, third-quarter drive: “Just practice your breathing technique — in through the nose, out through the mouth,” he said, laughing. … Junior Seau was active but did not play. However, he established an NFL record for personal winning streak — Seau has been part of 25 straight winning games, the longest such streak since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. … Jerod Mayo led the defense with 12 tackles (seven solo), while Brandon McGowan finished with 11 (eight solo). … Brady has won 20 consecutive games at Gillette Stadium.