Same here. IMO, one shining example of Marino competitiveness and toughness was a MNF game against the Steelers and Greg Lloyd. All week Lloyd was running his mouth how he was gonna take Marino out (imagine that being said today). And inexplicably, Lloyd came off the edge unblocked on the 1st series of the game (even 1st play IIRC) and drilled him. A short while later, Lloyd got him again and knocked the wind out of him. But Marino grabbed him by the jersey and tried to say something to him, while still laying on the field. Nothing rattled that man.
I also think of the 1994 Playoff game against San Diego where they lost a 21-6 lead. After SD took the lead on the Mark Seay TD, there was very little time left, but I knew Marino would come through. And he did. A couple passes later, Miami was in FG range -- which of course Stoyanovich missed.
But the point I always make is this. During the prime years of his career, it's hard to recall too many instances where Marino had a chance to tie or win the game but came up short. Sure, there might have been some failed 4th down plays here and there, but usually the Dolphins lost because they were completely overmatched or simply outscored because their defense couldn't stop the opposition. More often than not, if Marino had the ball late in the game with a shot at it, he usually got it done.
As I said in another thread a while back, ABC MNF once posted a stat in the 90's that I've never been able to locate online. The gist of it was this. Most 4th Q comebacks when your team is tied or behind: 1-Elway, 2- Montana, 3- Marino. But Most 4th Q comebacks with 2-min or less remaining, the list flipped: 1-Marino, 2- Montana, 3- Elway.
Now, part of that is probably because Elway and Montana's teams weren't trailing late as often as Marino's Dolphins, but it still shows that when the chips were on the line and the pressure at its highest, the Dolphins didn't usually lose because of an error by Dan the Man. That's the thing I'll remember most about him. He was clutch. And he had a very large set of BALLS! (remember the 4th down TD passes to Duper against the Jets and Fryar against the Pats??) Unfortunately, if you weren't a Dolphins fan and didn't see most his games, you're far too likely to look at W's and L's and Superbowls and miss the bigger picture.
