Dan Marino (Best Pure Passer in NFL History) NFL Legends | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Dan Marino (Best Pure Passer in NFL History) NFL Legends

Thanks for posting.

It makes me a little sad that he has been gone so long that I need little reminders like this to remember how incredibly good he was for his time. I truly believe he is the best ever, championships be damned.

It is too bad his greatness is being eroded by time and by rule changes that make guys who could not have touched him in that era, now able to produce similar numbers.
 
Tom Brady may go down as best qb of all time because of superbowl won. I still believed Dan is way better than Tom. He will never be forgot as dolphins. Dan is HOF.. If we had him now......
 
Marino was/is the best pure passer to play the game and I like how that is phrased. Reason being I think Peyton Manning is the best QB ever.
 
I don't need to read an article to know this. It isn't my bias either it's just called reality.
 
He will always be one of the best ever QB's...I just found some old VHS Tapes of some of Dan's Games and one I watched today was the 98 Dolphins VS Bills wildcard game...Dan was great!!! I really miss watching that guy toss the rock...The Sack on Flutie to end it was Killer...
 
I had a millennial a few weeks ago arguing that Drew Brees is a better QB than Marino was (Saints fan, or course). I couldn't do anything than shake my head in disbelief. It's a shame his legacy is fading with the new generation just because he doesn't have the rings.
 
Ren said:
I had a millennial a few weeks ago arguing that Drew Brees is a better QB than Marino was (Saints fan, or course). I couldn't do anything than shake my head in disbelief. It's a shame his legacy is fading with the new generation just because he doesn't have the rings.
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In about 15 years(if NFL didn't manage to go full blown cream puff mode by then), people will forget how impactful Manning was with all he did, just nature of time. However, Drew Brees and Marino are alike in one sense.. remove the super bowl year with the Saints and Drew is a spitting image of Marino when it comes to having to sling the ball non stop because your defense is god awful.
 
Dan Marino was different - he was SO unlike Brady or Montana -

Marino stood all on his own. He made everyone around him better. He made every game a WAR no matter how outmatched the rest of the team was.

He would stand in the pocket and get hit - ROCKED - for the opportunity to rip a defense - and he did it TOO! Over and over again...He'd take tremendous hits and he would launch a bomb to Duper or Clayton or Nat Moore....

People do not understand that the NFL was a totally different league when Marino played so comparing current QB's to past QB's is much more speculative and leaves gaping holes in what we know...

Dan was SO special...

He had some games where what he did was simply mind-boggling...His ability to open the gates of hell on to a defenses head.

We beat Pittsburg in the Championship game 45-28....Marino went nuts....

Opening day that season against the Redskins he threw 5 touchdown passes to Duper, Clayton, Jensen....He was on fire!

Amazing amazing athlete - truly an incredible competitor!
 
Dan was a QB who could singlehandedly carry a team on his back. You were never out of the game when he was under center. I had so much fun watching him on DirecTV's Sunday Ticket beginning in 1993, when my mother bought me the satellite (back then the satellite and 1 box cost $600) for my birthday. Of course I watched him on network tv whenever the Dolphins were on here in the NY Metropolitan area before that. Now I pay homage to the "Great" Dan Marino with a room in my house filled with mementos and my NYS license plate, 13MARINO..........He was one of a kind!!!!
 
My belief that he may have been the best QB ever has been well documented on this site so I will simply reminisce a bit for some of you youngsters or jog the memory of some of you contemporaries :)

Like NYC#1finsfan I had to wait until he came up to NY/NJ to see him in person. I spent my other Sundays at a sports bar that got all of the games - I saw nearly every game the man played from his first two appearances in relief (games out of reach) early in the '83 season just before he got the starting gig. I remember in his first start - at home vs the Bills - he threw a bad pick over the middle on I think his first series. After that it was as if that was all he needed in order to scale the learning curve from rookie to possibly best QB in the league - in one afternoon no less. After that pick he ripped off 4 TDs in a shootout that we ended up losing like 35-28 or 42-35. It was a harbinger of what his entire career would look like - rip up the opposition but your D can't get off the field or get a TO etc. They say it was the only time that Don Shula was seen smiling after a loss. He knew exactly what he had. After that game Dan went 10-0 or 10-1 and we won the division. He never made a rookie mistake again in the classic sense - he was an All-Pro as rook and we all know what he did in '84. The thing that really always stood out for me when people try to compare others like Brees (not even in same league) to Dan was just how quickly Dan went from rookie-never-played-a-down to "best in the league" (yes, the 49ers fans would beg to differ and that's fine). My point is, even Peyton Manning - in a more QB friendly era - had rookie struggles with turnovers etc. Elway? Are you kidding? Anyone recall his rookie campaign? Dan Marino matured in basically one game - he was absolutely dominant from the first game of his career until the '93 season (playing perhaps his best ball when the achilles went). That year could have been the year. It really could have.

One other notable moment for me - during the Jimmy Johnson days, I went to a game at the Meadowlands vs the Jets - my wife and I had really good seats down in the lower level close to the field. Neil O'Donnell was the Jets QB that day. Dan was getting long in the tooth and he wasn't the same guy he was back in '84 --- however, it was the closest view I ever had "live" of him - and what jumped off the page to me was just how damn quick he saw the field and distributed the ball (he had a monster day with over 300 in a win) vs when Neil dropped back. The difference as staggering. Whilst it took Dan what seemed like 0.5 seconds to see all 4 guys in their patterns and hit the right one, O'Donnell on the other hand was bouncing around in the pocket, waiting, looking - sometimes w guys wide open doing jumping-jacks - and he wouldn't always find them. In fact, he wound up getting sacked a couple times as a result. The point is not to bash O'Donnell - he played in a SB and he was an "ok" QB - if we take him to be sort of your "average" QB that plays in the NFL and compared him that day vs Dan - forget the stats - just watching HOW they played - you could instantly see the stark difference between a "generational great" and a JAG.
 
royalshank said:
My belief that he may have been the best QB ever has been well documented on this site so I will simply reminisce a bit for some of you youngsters or jog the memory of some of you contemporaries :)

Like NYC#1finsfan I had to wait until he came up to NY/NJ to see him in person. I spent my other Sundays at a sports bar that got all of the games - I saw nearly every game the man played from his first two appearances in relief (games out of reach) early in the '83 season just before he got the starting gig. I remember in his first start - at home vs the Bills - he threw a bad pick over the middle on I think his first series. After that it was as if that was all he needed in order to scale the learning curve from rookie to possibly best QB in the league - in one afternoon no less. After that pick he ripped off 4 TDs in a shootout that we ended up losing like 35-28 or 42-35. It was a harbinger of what his entire career would look like - rip up the opposition but your D can't get off the field or get a TO etc. They say it was the only time that Don Shula was seen smiling after a loss. He knew exactly what he had. After that game Dan went 10-0 or 10-1 and we won the division. He never made a rookie mistake again in the classic sense - he was an All-Pro as rook and we all know what he did in '84. The thing that really always stood out for me when people try to compare others like Brees (not even in same league) to Dan was just how quickly Dan went from rookie-never-played-a-down to "best in the league" (yes, the 49ers fans would beg to differ and that's fine). My point is, even Peyton Manning - in a more QB friendly era - had rookie struggles with turnovers etc. Elway? Are you kidding? Anyone recall his rookie campaign? Dan Marino matured in basically one game - he was absolutely dominant from the first game of his career until the '93 season (playing perhaps his best ball when the achilles went). That year could have been the year. It really could have.

One other notable moment for me - during the Jimmy Johnson days, I went to a game at the Meadowlands vs the Jets - my wife and I had really good seats down in the lower level close to the field. Neil O'Donnell was the Jets QB that day. Dan was getting long in the tooth and he wasn't the same guy he was back in '84 --- however, it was the closest view I ever had "live" of him - and what jumped off the page to me was just how damn quick he saw the field and distributed the ball (he had a monster day with over 300 in a win) vs when Neil dropped back. The difference as staggering. Whilst it took Dan what seemed like 0.5 seconds to see all 4 guys in their patterns and hit the right one, O'Donnell on the other hand was bouncing around in the pocket, waiting, looking - sometimes w guys wide open doing jumping-jacks - and he wouldn't always find them. In fact, he wound up getting sacked a couple times as a result. The point is not to bash O'Donnell - he played in a SB and he was an "ok" QB - if we take him to be sort of your "average" QB that plays in the NFL and compared him that day vs Dan - forget the stats - just watching HOW they played - you could instantly see the stark difference between a "generational great" and a JAG.
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Marino started 9 games in '83. he was certainly no slouch in those but '84 wasn't his rookie year when he blew up. Greatest pure passer the league has ever seen.

Manning is the best QB though. I remember watching Peyton when the Colts were still in the AFC East and thinking he would be the guy one day to break Marino's records if his health allowed him to. PM's knowledge of the game is second to none. Marino could let it rip and make any throw thru any window he needed whenever he wanted, but Manning, along with his accuracy and touch, manipulated and mind****ed defenses like no one else ever has.
 
I've seen a lot of great ones.

Statistics, Superbowls, and various other talking points can be brought up and analyzed over and over again in order to try and decipher who was the best.

But the bottom line for me is that on the field, for 60 minutes, between the hashes....I've never seen anybody do it better than Marino.
 
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