Don't know who Dan Marino was? THIS is who he was. | Page 2 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Don't know who Dan Marino was? THIS is who he was.

Everybody talks about Mahomes and his uniqueness, but I’ve said from day one he reminds me a lot of Marino. The way he throws the deep ball, his consistent magical moments, and his doing it different than anyone else that’s playing right now. He’s special just like Dan was. Everyone also forgets how great he was at moving in AND out of the pocket. His feet were just as special as his arm. His ACCURACY was off the charts. Mahomes is def behind Dan in accuracy IMO.
 
I think Mahomes is going to be the best qb ever..may not have the rings of Tom, but his talent is easily best ever potential.

Well besides Tua ya know ;)
 
I think Mahomes is going to be the best qb ever..may not have the rings of Tom, but his talent is easily best ever potential.

Well besides Tua ya know ;)

Let us all remember and acknowledge that Mahomes 2018 season — where he produced slightly higher yardage and TD’s than Danny did in 1984 — was accomplished during a clearly more offensive friendly era.

All the rule changes and player protections instituted since 2004ish have skewed things. I don’t believe for one moment Mahomes could transport back to 1984 and accomplish the same thing.

That said, he does look the part more than anyone else sans Aaron Rodgers 10 years ago or so.
 
Everybody talks about Mahomes and his uniqueness, but I’ve said from day one he reminds me a lot of Marino. The way he throws the deep ball, his consistent magical moments, and his doing it different than anyone else that’s playing right now. He’s special just like Dan was. Everyone also forgets how great he was at moving in AND out of the pocket. His feet were just as special as his arm. His ACCURACY was off the charts. Mahomes is def behind Dan in accuracy IMO.
For sure. No one has to be as accurate today. W all the jump balls and wide open guys now. Look at how most of those throws Dan makes are w tiny windows. To receivers w small catch radius. I love Mahomes though. He is special but he doesn’t throw it like Dan - he does other things.
 
For sure. No one has to be as accurate today. W all the jump balls and wide open guys now. Look at how most of those throws Dan makes are w tiny windows. To receivers w small catch radius. I love Mahomes though. He is special but he doesn’t throw it like Dan - he does other things.

You make a great point re: tight windows. Dan was the best at that. Also, he was among the first to throw to spots on the field where he expected his receiver to be — e.g., low and to the outside where only the WR could get it — I recall Pat Haden talking about that early in Danny’s career.

Other things to consider when comparing Marino and Mahomes:

Danny was largely throwing to 2 small 5’9 receivers in an era where defenses could be physical and put their hands on them until the ball was in the air. The receivers also had to worry about getting leveled when crossing the linebackers in the middle of the field. And there were no targeting rules or QB protections of today.

So a lot of catches are made today that weren’t made in 1984 because a receiver wasn’t near as confident running across the field or going up for a contested catch. And QB’s are able to hang in the pocket with more confidence knowing defenders aren’t supposed to hit them too high or too low. Doing so extends drives that didn’t used to extend thus produces more yards, more points, more everything.

Meanwhile, other than the smallish Tyreke Hill and Mecole Hardman, Mahomes has receivers with good size such as Kelce, Watkins, and Robinson. And they don’t have to deal with DB’s playing physical with them from the snap til the ball is in the air. And they don’t have the same concerns of a safety like Ronnie Lott trying to run through them to break up a pass.

In his prime, Marino never had a Julio Jones, Jerry Rice, or Travis Kelce type, e.g., a big, fast physical freak or one of the GOAT’s of his or any generation.
 
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For sure. No one has to be as accurate today. W all the jump balls and wide open guys now. Look at how most of those throws Dan makes are w tiny windows. To receivers w small catch radius. I love Mahomes though. He is special but he doesn’t throw it like Dan - he does other things.
Agreed 1000%. They both did/doing things at QB never seen before. They both Took over the NFL like a storm. Dans was quite a bit more shocking at the time IMO.
 
You make a great point re: tight windows. Dan was the best at that. Also, he was among the first to throw to spots on the field where he expected his receiver to be — e.g., low and to the outside where only the WR could get it — I recall Pat Haden talking about that early in Danny’s career.

Other things to consider when comparing Marino and Mahomes:

Danny was largely throwing to 2 small 5’9 receivers in an era where defenses could be physical and put their hands on them until the ball was in the air. The receivers also had to worry about getting leveled when crossing the linebackers in the middle of the field. And there were no targeting rules or QB protections of today.

So a lot of catches are made today that weren’t made in 1984 because a receiver wasn’t near as confident running across the field or going up for a contested catch. And QB’s are able to hang in the pocket with more confidence knowing defenders aren’t supposed to hit them too high or too low. Doing so extends drives that didn’t used to extend thus produces more yards, more points, more everything.

Meanwhile, other than the smallish Tyreke Hill and Mecole Hardman, Mahomes has receivers with good size such as Kelce, Watkins, and Robinson. And they don’t have to deal with DB’s playing physical with them from the snap til the ball is in the air. And they don’t have the same concerns of a safety like Ronnie Lott trying to run through them to break up a pass.

In his prime, Marino never had a Julio Jones, Jerry Rice, or Travis Kelce type, e.g., a big, fast physical freak or one of the GOAT’s of his or any generation.
So true!!! He was the first I remember throwing the back shoulder throw With regularity. I remember commentators talking about that. Dan was deadly accurate!! He was def a revolutionary QB Talent and a once in a generational talent for sure.
 
You make a great point re: tight windows. Dan was the best at that. Also, he was among the first to throw to spots on the field where he expected his receiver to be — e.g., low and to the outside where only the WR could get it — I recall Pat Haden talking about that early in Danny’s career.

Other things to consider when comparing Marino and Mahomes:

Danny was largely throwing to 2 small 5’9 receivers in an era where defenses could be physical and put their hands on them until the ball was in the air. The receivers also had to worry about getting leveled when crossing the linebackers in the middle of the field. And there were no targeting rules or QB protections of today.

So a lot of catches are made today that weren’t made in 1984 because a receiver wasn’t near as confident running across the field or going up for a contested catch. And QB’s are able to hang in the pocket with more confidence knowing defenders aren’t supposed to hit them too high or too low. Doing so extends drives that didn’t used to extend thus produces more yards, more points, more everything.

Meanwhile, other than the smallish Tyreke Hill and Mecole Hardman, Mahomes has receivers with good size such as Kelce, Watkins, and Robinson. And they don’t have to deal with DB’s playing physical with them from the snap til the ball is in the air. And they don’t have the same concerns of a safety like Ronnie Lott trying to run through them to break up a pass.

In his prime, Marino never had a Julio Jones, Jerry Rice, or Travis Kelce type, e.g., a big, fast physical freak or one of the GOAT’s of his or any generation.
1000%. I loved watching Marino and I love watching Mahomes now. All of your points are spot on and they dominated relative to their peers in different eras in special ways.

Looking at old footage or rewatching some of those old games - I had forgotten how big some of those DBs were like Lott, Dennis Smith, Atwater, Easley and the WRs - the 5’9” guys - had to catch balls in little slots and fear getting crushed. It was just different. That mashup above shows just how many balls were completed to guys not even open. Crazy.
 
1. With Marino, it didn't matter how much time was left, if you were within one score, you always believed he could tie it or win it.
Check out the Browns Monday night game Week 2, 1992, if you can, or 1999 Week 5 at Indy. I think Week 5 1990 is the Pete Carroll "choke motion" game where Marino tore the heart out of the Jets. All are perfect examples.
2. 1984 was like nothing I had ever seen. Marino, every week, was unstoppable and was putting up numbers no one had ever seen. Yeah, Manning, Brees, Brady topped him, but barely, and the rules were different when they did it. Also, go back and watch those 1984 games. Shula still wanted to pound the football and a lot of TD's were scored from in close via Pete Johnson and the running game, whereas Manning was throwing 2 yard TD's. If Shula had wanted, Marino could have easily thrown another 10 TD's instead of having someone keep pounding them in. But that was the game back then. You HAD to run the ball short distance.
3. I remember the MNF game when we were losing 27-0 against the Raiders in 1983, I was in 10th grade. Horrible game. Marino comes in during the 4th quarter and leads two straight TD drives(Woodley was still the starter). Raiders were probably playing a soft defense, but still Marino looked like a man among boys, in total control, and zipped it all over and was not able to be stopped. I remember thinking when I went to bed, that Marino was going to be a superstar. And I grew up a Penn State fan, and at the time HATED Marino because he was a Pitt guy. Earlier that year, I came home from work one afternoon, my mom said to me, Hey the Dolphins drafted Marino. Kind of mocking because he was the enemy. But I just said, Well, I am a fan now. And boy did he not disappoint.
4. Another underrated, somewhat forgotten game to check out in the 1990 Divisional Playoff game vs Kansas City. They pounded Miami for three quarters and led 16-3 going into the 4th quarter. They should have just kept running the ball, we couldn't stop them. KC got cute with the pass a couple of times, we lucked out, and Marino came alive with 2 TD drives in the fourth to take the lead. We lucked out again when a holding call, I believe, pushed KC back out of field goal range. They tried the FG and missed it at the buzzer.
Wow, sorry, long post. I could go on forever about Marino.
 
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