Specific predictions (namely ones that don't have the Dolphins winning the AFC East) have Joey Porter(notes) vexed, but he seems to find the general nature of predictions troublesome, too.

Joey expressed some concern over the weekend that there were people out there who thought someone other than the Dolphins might win the AFC East. Via Tim Graham at ESPN.com, here's Joey:

"I don't understand how you can put somebody in front of us," Porter said. "We won the championship. We were AFC East champions. I just don't think it's supposed to happen like that. You've got to beat somebody to be the champs. We had to beat somebody to be the champs."

I think someone should explain to Joey that just because Vegas made the Patriots the favorites to win the AFC East, it doesn't mean that they actually are the AFC East champions. It's just, you know, a prediction. That means it's something that someone thinks will happen in the future. It is not the standard by which championships are won.

I promise you, buddy, New England will not be named the division champions unless they end up with a better record than you, or the same record with an advantage in the tiebreak process (and obviously, that won't happen, because the Dolphins are awesome, they won the division last year, and that means that no one can ever question their championship pedigree ever again).

So rest easy, friend. The Patriots will indeed have to beat somebody to be the champs. That's the way this whole NFL thing works.