The left knee of Dolphins cornerback Will Allen, which was injured Sunday at Houston, became a mystery Wednesday.

Although Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said, ''Yes, he sure did,'' when asked if Allen participated fully in the two-hour practice and Allen was listed as a full participant on the NFL injury report, it was a strange full participation during the half hour of practice open to the media. Allen was in a helmet and shell pads, like the rest of the Dolphins, but stood on the sideline during the team drills.

During individual drills, he was spotted doing a backpedal, but he also seemed to skip several turns. He was the only cornerback among the Dolphins' top three who didn't take regular turns, if he took any turns at all, in the one-on-one drills with the receivers.

Allen stopped playing dominoes in the locker room just long enough to tell reporters waiting for him that he wasn't talking.

• Fullback Casey Cramer sat out because of what Sparano termed a ``sore ankle.''

PORTER KEEPS MONEY

Linebacker Joey Porter said he usually hears about fines by Wednesday and the mail hadn't brought any monetary requests from the NFL office over his postgame comments from Sunday.

Porter said after Sunday's 29-28 loss that he was certain a Houston incomplete pass created by his hit on quarterback Matt Schaub should have been ruled a fumble; the call should have been reviewed; and he pointed out the crew officiating the game, headed by referee Ed Hochuli, had been involved in several controversial calls this season.

''I don't think I did anything to deserve [a fine],'' Porter said. ``I just wanted them to review the play and they didn't review the play. I didn't get a chance to look at it. Right after the game, I'm hot, I'm mad, we lost. I feel like I did something. I never got to see the play until I got in on Monday. That was my first time seeing the play. If you'd asked me Monday, it's iffy.''

LEARNING MODE

Had Green Bay made a different decision with Brett Favre in August, Chad Pennington wouldn't have been available to the Dolphins and they might have gone into the season with an NFL rookie coach and a rookie quarterback because Chad Henne was edging ahead of Josh McCown. That is what Baltimore had to do with quarterback Joe Flacco and coach John Harbaugh.

''It's somewhat challenging I guess, but it's what we are,'' Harbaugh said. ``We've got a lot of confidence in Joe and ourselves, I guess, all of us on this staff.''

Sparano was asked the difference between having a rookie quarterback start the season on the field as opposed to on the bench in observation mode.

''I think in our case, with Pennington out there, Chad Henne gets to learn a little bit of something every single game,'' Sparano said. ``We talked about [the game against] San Diego, the way Pennington threw the ball away, some of those kind of things. I even thought last week, the drive at the end, the way he keeps the play alive to Ronnie Brown down the sideline, those kind of things. I think Chad Henne learns from those things.

``When you're a young quarterback and you're placed out there right away, you kind of learn a different way. You learn by getting thrown right in there. Watching Joe play right now, I think he's done a tremendous job as of now and with what those guys are asking him to do.''

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@