Don Shula's "Total Control" was the reason Dan Marino never got his Super Bowl ring.

[CashInFist]

Soon after Shula drafted Dan Marino he apparently lost sight of how important a strong defense was to a NFL championship team. We drafted or traded for 17 RB's in Marino's 17 NFL seasons (corrected me if i'm wrong plz), and NONE of them panned out! How many of those picks could have been used on premier defensive standouts in the drafts? We could have been to the Super Bowl 2-3+ times more when Dan Marino was at the helm if we would have spent those $$$ on DEFENSE! Firing Tom Olivadoti early on would have been an excellent start to the rise from the ashes of mediocrity, and to an NFL championship we never accomplished, but should have multiple times. JMO

 

[WVDolphan]

Soon after Shula drafted Dan Marino he apparently lost sight of how important a strong defense was to a NFL championship team. We drafted or traded for 17 RB's in Marino's 17 NFL seasons (corrected me if i'm wrong plz), and NONE of them panned out! How many of those picks could have been used on premier defensive standouts in the drafts? We could have been to the Super Bowl 2-3+ times more when Dan Marino was at the helm if we would have spent those $$$ on DEFENSE! Firing Tom Olivadoti early on would have been an excellent start to the rise from the ashes of mediocrity, and to an NFL championship we never accomplished, but should have multiple times. JMO

I agree that all Dan needed was a defense. Too much time was wasted worrying about a RB. RB is offense. If you have Dan Marino...you dont need offense. He has that covered. Scoring and sustaining drives WILL NOT BE A PROBLEM when you have Dan Marino as your QB. But, he cant play defense. All he needed was a solid D and we win multiple bowls.

 

[Geforce]

It wasn't Shula's total control but the near total reliance on Dan Marino and the passing game. It was also bringing in Chuck Studley and then Tom Olivadotti to be defensive coordinators.

There was so many other things like bad personnel moves or players not playing to their abilities that aided in Marino not getting his ring.

Marino was also the reason he never got his Super Bowl ring. Marino did not play well in several playoff games, especially against Buffalo, that spoiled a couple of good defensive teams Dan did get to play with.

 

[idaho]

Shula stuggled with the defense side of the game. He always relied on bill asrnsparger(sp) When we lost him we sucked at defense.

 

[Marino420TD]

Soon after Shula drafted Dan Marino...

LB Larry Gordon dies in the offseason (heart condition)
LB AJ Duhe blows out his knee in Marino's first playoff game
RB David Overstreet dies in offseason car wreak
FB Andre Franklin blows out knee
NT Bob Baumhower injuries back and is released
1st and 2nd round picks for LB Hugh Green, who promptly blows out his knee
C Dwight Stevenson blows out his knee

Shula had some bad drafts, but losing a starting backfield (Overstreet, Franklin), a starting LB corp (Gordon, Duhe, Green), and the best C and NT in the game was pretty bad timing and helped screw up the rest of the 80s. With no FA, Shula ended up having to reach to often to replace guys, only compounding our problem.

 

[KippyIA1354]

Unibrow At The Helm!!!

Their biggest problem was OLIVIDOTTI!! He could never adjust to anything and was definately their downfall through the 90's! For all you older Dolfans just think back to the 92' AFC championship against the Bills when we couldn't adjust or even stop freakin screen passes to Thurman. Just utter and total inept defense when you know they were gonna come back to it like every time and to top it all off their defensive leader Bryan Cox used to get so frustrated with the defensive calls he used to flip out on the sidelines on a regular basis. Way to go Bryan, you knew ol' unibrow didn't know what he was doing so you were better off calling your own defensive schemes! Olividotti was pathetic!

 

[CA Dolfan]

LB Larry Gordon dies in the offseason (heart condition)
LB AJ Duhe blows out his knee in Marino's first playoff game
RB David Overstreet dies in offseason car wreak
FB Andre Franklin blows out knee
NT Bob Baumhower injuries back and is released
1st and 2nd round picks for LB Hugh Green, who promptly blows out his knee
C Dwight Stevenson blows out his knee

Shula had some bad drafts...

No Kidding.

 

[dolfanmark]

Shula did not lose sight of how important defense was. Shula was a defensive minded coach, for his entire career.

In 1982, Miami had he best defense in the league. In 1983, the defense led the NFL in fewest points allowed. By the end of 1984, the defense was in shambles. What happened in that timeframe?

LB Larry Gordon died at age 29, a former 1st rd pick and outstanding player.
CB Don McNeal, an elite player, ruptured both achilles and was never the same
LB Aj Duhe, an elite player, suffered knee and shoulder injuries that would essentially end his career
NT Bob Baumhower, an elite player, also suffered career ending injuries
LB Earnie Rhone, the leader of the defense, retired
S Lyle Blackwood retired
2nd rd pick DT Mike Charles was a bust
3rd rd pick DE Chuck Benson was a bust
1st rd pick LB Jackie Shipp was a bust
2nd rd pick LB Jay Brophy was a bust

Sure, the Rhone and Blackwood retirements were predictable. And Shula drafted Shipp and Brophy as potential replacements for Rhone, and neither could cut it. The other players were all done in before their time. The defense would not have been in that position except for bad luck.

But, Shula never stopped trying to build the defense.
1985- LB Alex Moyer, DE George Little were our 2nd and 3rd rd picks
1986- #1 pick traded to Tampa for All Pro LB Hugh Green, who promptly blew out his knee. #2 pick was LB John Offerdahl, whose career was also cut short. #3 pick was DE TJ Turner, who had a mediocre career
1987- DE John Bosa was our #1 pick, and he blew out his knee. LB Rick Graf was our #2 pick, and he was a bust.
1988- DE Eric Kumerow was our #1 pick, and a bust. S Jarvis Williams was our #2 pick, and had a solid career for us.
1989- S Louis Oliver was our 2nd #1 pick in that draft
1990- NT Alfred Oglesby was a 3rd rd pick, and we had a good defense this season, earning the Miami Pound Machine moniker
1991- No high picks on D because of the defensive success of the 1990 team
1992- CB Troy Vincent and DE Marco Coleman drafted in rd 1, DT Larry Webster drafted in rd 3, and LB Dwight Hollier drafted in rd 4
1993- No high picks on D, following a good defensive year in '92
1994- DT Tim Bowens taken in the 1st rd, LB Aubrey Beavers drafted in rd 2.

In that 10 year span, we utilized 17 high draft picks on defensive players. Most didn't work out, for a variety of reasons. But Shula never lost sight of defense. What he tried just didn't work. But, you can't deny that he tried. And that's just looking at high draft picks. It's not even considering acquisitions like EJ Junior, Gene Atkins, Michael Stewart, Chris Singleton, and John Grimsley.

 

[SR 7]

good points but also they say we never won b/c he never had a RB so ur case goes hand in hand and out of curiousity, who cares nemore? this is 2008 and I already had my problems with the 1 and 15 season i dont want to rem. how we coudlnt get hte best QB ever a RING so lets move on ya?

 

[dolfanmark]

Their biggest problem was OLIVIDOTTI!! He could never adjust to anything and was definately their downfall through the 90's! For all you older Dolfans just think back to the 92' AFC championship against the Bills when we couldn't adjust or even stop freakin screen passes to Thurman. Just utter and total inept defense when you know they were gonna come back to it like every time and to top it all off their defensive leader Bryan Cox used to get so frustrated with the defensive calls he used to flip out on the sidelines on a regular basis. Way to go Bryan, you knew ol' unibrow didn't know what he was doing so you were better off calling your own defensive schemes! Olividotti was pathetic!

I have to disagree with you on the 1992 AFC Championship Game. Our defense played remarkably well that game. I believe we turned the ball over 5 times that day, mostly in our own end, and we did well to hold Buffalo to 29 points. 1st possession of the game, Marino hits Freddie Banks for a 3rd down conversion, and Banks fumbles, giving the Bills the ball on our 30 yard line. That was also the game where Keith Jackson let one go right through his hands for an INT at midfield. And Mark Clayton dropped a 50 yard TD pass right before the 1st half ended. We had plenty of bad defensive performances against Buffalo (none worse than the 1990 playoff game, except maybe the 1995 playoff game), but the 1992 AFC Championship game was about turnovers. And about how quickly the Marks Brothers had aged into a non-dangerous duo.

 

[bert]

shula said the biggest mistake he made was drafting smaller offensive lineman.these guys could set up quicker for pass plays.BUT COULDN'T RUN BLOCK.he said he still regrets it to today.he felt with a good running ,we would have won alot more games-big games that counted.

 

[CashInFist]

shula said the biggest mistake he made was drafting smaller offensive lineman.these guys could set up quicker for pass plays.BUT COULDN'T RUN BLOCK.he said he still regrets it to today.he felt with a good running ,we would have won alot more games-big games that counted.

Interesting. I haven't heard that before.

 

[72 Undefeated]

Let me see if I have this right. Don Shula, arguably one of the greatest coaches off all time and a Hall of Famer is to blame for Marino not getting a Super Bowl ring? Sounds like it belongs ESPN, "You Can't Blame Don Shula...."

Plenty of blame to go around, imo. Thanks for the provocative thread, even though it is an ancient topic.

 

[CashInFist]

Let me see if I have this right. Don Shula, arguably one of the greatest coaches off all time and a Hall of Famer is to blame for Marino not getting a Super Bowl ring? Sounds like it belongs ESPN, "You Can't Blame Don Shula...."

Plenty of blame to go around, imo. Thanks for the provocative thread, even though it is an ancient topic.

I prolly should've just started another Chad Pennington thread. :tongue:

 

[sandcastle]

Another factor is that big-moneyed teams dominated the Super Bowl during this era and Joe Robbie did not have the funds to keep up with. If you compare most teams drafts, they are probably comparable since the NFL draft was weakened by the USFL signing a number of college stars. Plan B free agency hurt the Phins' depth as role players left for better pay.

My biggest disappointment was that Phins didn't sign Anthony Carter. He was better than the Mark's Brothers and Marino would have put up numbers as he did when Nat Moore played with Clayton and Duper. Moreover, the Dolphins slipped behind other teams as many of the USFL players returned to the NFL and immediately performed at pro bowl levels.