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

[Adam Strange]

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.

Not only that game, but the entire 1990 season is underrated in my opinion. Last 12 win season, and Miami was legitimately the second or third best team in the AFC that year— but Buffalo was first by a wide margin and their two out of three wins against the Dolphins that season were decisive. The games against Buffalo, the Jets, and the Eagles in Miami that year were all great.

 

[royalshank]

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.

also in ‘84, a lot of those games were over after 3 quarters and we just ran it in Q4 - we averaged 100 yards rushing per game. Had we wanted to run up the scores like the 2007 Pats we could have had more passing TDs.

 

[Digital]

Great video, and those of us who saw him play are not surprised because he's probably the best tight-window thrower in NFL history (definitely the quickest release and best vision). You watch a bunch of unbelievable throws and think, wow, this video was awesome ... guess it's almost over, how much time is left? And you notice you're not even 10% into the video ... and there's no fluff, all passing, all dimes, all incredible, and the quality stays incredibly high for every play, no front-loading.

Only nitpick is that I wish they had normalized the audio, some of those MNF games the volume jumps way up and hurts your ears.

Thanks Albert, and the original Twitter poster Birthday Barry @VeryToughScene for this gem. We were thoroughly spoiled by greatness.

 

[Digital]

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.

Great points @EJay .

The WR's today are big specifically because they don't have to battle DB's downfield, they only have to beat press-man for the initial part of their routes. As you pointed out, the rules made crossing routes super-popular because rule change prevents headunting safeties and linebackers from doing a Darryl Stingley to WR's and paralyzing them for life. So lots of WR's will go over the middle and not have alligator arms today. In fact, over half of the passes today are short dink and dunk passes that weren't really possible in the past because of those rules, so QB's getting free completions and benefitting from run after catch to rack up obscene yardage today, that simply wasn't available in the past. The only big WR Marino even played with for very long was Orande Gadsden, who was a clutch guy and underrated. I wonder what Marino's completion percentage was targeting him? Probably pretty high comparatively, and that was in an era with that defense-favoring ruleset.

The reason so many small receivers played in Marino's era, was because once the DB's like Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes got their hands on you, the WR simply wasn't ever creating separation, so if you threw it to them, it was likely a 50/50 ball. So the windows for QB's to hit were muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch smaller back then. Either you accepted needing pinpoint accuracy to thread a needle and hit a tiny throwing margin for error, or you accepted throwing to a receiver who didn't create separation ... those were the choices most of the time. Today, big WR's with enormous catch radius play regularly and have no trouble creating separation because the DB's can't touch them after a few yards ... just an initial jam and they're free. No wonder every QB is completing such high percentage of passess. And, with the phenomenal QB protection rules today, they almost never have to throw the ball away. You should probably add 10% accuracy numbers to the QB's in Marino's era compared to guys today, and the yardage/TD's aren't even comparable stats because that has been wildly distorted by these new rules.

Most people don't know that one of the earliest proponents of these new QB-friendly and offense-friendly rules was Don Shula. He started the push towards the more offense NFL we see today. And if I were coaching Dan Marino ... I'd push for those too.

 

[Digital]

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.

Well in the initial video I posted it's worth noting that when Marino threw 48 TD's in the regular season, the 2nd highest total in the NFL was 32. So without Marino, the most TD's in the NFL that year was 32, then Marino did 150% of what the highest TD total was. Imagine today someone throwing for 75 or 80 TD's ... that would be today's equivalent. It was other-worldly.

Mahomes is a talent for sure, but durability wouldn't let him have a 17 year career with the old ruleset. He'd be crushed, speared, and hit after the play ends so many times he might have a very short year. Fortunately for us, we get to see Mahomes in this very QB-friendly era, and enjoy his gifts to the fullest.

 

[Dolphins81]

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.

Plus, I didn’t see Marino throwing bubble screens. I wish that Marino could have played in todays game. Not only are the rules different but so is the medical and conditioning. Marino probably would have lasted a few more years with a program like Brady has.

 

[royalshank]

Great points @EJay .

The WR's today are big specifically because they don't have to battle DB's downfield, they only have to beat press-man for the initial part of their routes. As you pointed out, the rules made crossing routes super-popular because rule change prevents headunting safeties and linebackers from doing a Darryl Stingley to WR's and paralyzing them for life. So lots of WR's will go over the middle and not have alligator arms today. In fact, over half of the passes today are short dink and dunk passes that weren't really possible in the past because of those rules, so QB's getting free completions and benefitting from run after catch to rack up obscene yardage today, that simply wasn't available in the past. The only big WR Marino even played with for very long was Orande Gadsden, who was a clutch guy and underrated. I wonder what Marino's completion percentage was targeting him? Probably pretty high comparatively, and that was in an era with that defense-favoring ruleset.

The reason so many small receivers played in Marino's era, was because once the DB's like Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes got their hands on you, the WR simply wasn't ever creating separation, so if you threw it to them, it was likely a 50/50 ball. So the windows for QB's to hit were muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch smaller back then. Either you accepted needing pinpoint accuracy to thread a needle and hit a tiny throwing margin for error, or you accepted throwing to a receiver who didn't create separation ... those were the choices most of the time. Today, big WR's with enormous catch radius play regularly and have no trouble creating separation because the DB's can't touch them after a few yards ... just an initial jam and they're free. No wonder every QB is completing such high percentage of passess. And, with the phenomenal QB protection rules today, they almost never have to throw the ball away. You should probably add 10% accuracy numbers to the QB's in Marino's era compared to guys today, and the yardage/TD's aren't even comparable stats because that has been wildly distorted by these new rules.

Most people don't know that one of the earliest proponents of these new QB-friendly and offense-friendly rules was Don Shula. He started the push towards the more offense NFL we see today. And if I were coaching Dan Marino ... I'd push for those too.

The points about small WRs and DB contact - a lot of younger fans don’t appreciate or understand why QBs threw so many INTs back then as compared to now. Guys like Unitas, Bradshaw, Elway erc threw near as many picks as TDs due to precisely your points. It didn’t make them any less great. It’s just how the game was. Dan’s TD to INT ratio is only bested by Staubach and Montana in terms of guys who played during such defense - friendly times. Today, Dan (and Elway and Joe etc) would be doing the 5-8 TDs to INT thing like all the other good QBs.

 

[finomenal]

who could rival it? Rodgers or maybe Elway? I have hard time coming up with a list.

Beat pure passer ever in Football- IMO

Marv Levy

 

[finomenal]

Thought this was gonna be the flub video, haha.

There was no fckin flub.

 

[Digital]

The points about small WRs and DB contact - a lot of younger fans don’t appreciate or understand why QBs threw so many INTs back then as compared to now. Guys like Unitas, Bradshaw, Elway erc threw near as many picks as TDs due to precisely your points. It didn’t make them any less great. It’s just how the game was. Dan’s TD to INT ratio is only bested by Staubach and Montana in terms of guys who played during such defense - friendly times. Today, Dan (and Elway and Joe etc) would be doing the 5-8 TDs to INT thing like all the other good QBs.

Excellent point @royalshank !

 

[-MiamiSoul]

All great stuff. My first born is named Daniel after him. but I really am so sick of playing tribute to the perfect team and Dan Marino. Im sorry. But My Boys dont even know what a winning season is like. Its time we make some new memories. Get another Great championship team. That would be the best way to honor Marino. Make this ball club great again!!

 

[royalshank]

Excellent point @royalshank !

Thanks Digital ! I always shake my head when someone points out how so and so threw “too many picks” while a guy from today tossed at 6:1. Except Winston. What he did last year was really tough to pull off in today’s era 30-30!

 

[royalshank]

Marv Levy

Yes and no. Marino historically put points up on the Bills. Problem was they were just too good and our D couldn’t match their O. 44-34 playoff loss, 41-27 game, the list goes on. They seemed to be scoring 40+ and us 25-30 in losses. That Bills team should have won at least that first SB. They had HOF playmakers up and down both sides of the ball. We were really the only team that remotely challenged them in the AFC from 90-95’ on a consistent basis and it had more to do w Dan and Don than anything else.

 

[royalshank]

Excellent point @royalshank !

I had to double check my recollection. Actually, Dan’s TD to INT ratio was slightly better than Staubach’s. It’s actually only Joe who’s was better which is impressive in that Dan threw the ball deeper than Joe on average. Again, these guys play today and it’s regularly 35:5 type stuff.

 

[tay0365]

Well to those that did not have the honor to see him play, everyone has their theories on what made Marino so great, I believe it was a load of traits that made him who he was...

Quick Release:

Got to start with the most obvious. The way that he snapped a pass like a viper was a thing of Beauty. I do not know how many times I watched the pass-rush quickly closing in on Dan, I would be yelling get rid of it, and at the very last second, snap...completion yards away. He knew his ability, he knew he could wait that extra second to give his receiver that extra time to get open, and was not afraid to take a shot for it.

Toughness:

As I said up there, Dan was not afraid to take a shot if it meant making a play. Now a days someone like Brady gets hit, and he pops up crying he was hit too hard, or late...Dan would pop up with only one thing on his mind, did I complete that pass.

Touch:

This one surprisingly some fans did not notice abut Dan, but he actually did throw a very catchable ball. John Elway was without doubt one of the greatest QB to play the game, but early on (And at times during rest of his career), John tended to throw passes that almost seem to take skin from the receivers hands. Though Dan's arm was not Elway strong, but when he had too, he threw a very hard fast ball.

Dan knew when to throw hard, and when to just put touch on the ball. I remember me and my friends would marvel at how well he placed it, almost felt like one of us could be down there, and he could make us look good.

Confidence:

It is said, to be a good Corner, you have to have a short memory, with a QB it's the same thing, you make a mistake, you don't allow it to stick with you, you just go to the next play. Dan could throw two straight passes that are almost picked off, the next play the only option is someone double covered with a small window, and he will go that direction without thinking twice. Great QBs are never afraid to fail, though Dan would probably put it, he just doesn't believe he can fail when he sees the play.

6th Sense:

Ah, and here it is, the catigory where I talk about the infamous and very deadly one step. Dan was not fast or quick, Dan was not agile or that athletic, but what he did in the pocket made Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly envious. Dan had a sixth sense of when, and where the pass rush was coming from, and just as the D-Player is just about to grab Dan, that deadly one step to the front, back, right, or left, and suddenly Dan seemed miles away from the defensive players grasp. It was nothing less then beautiful to watch.

Intensity:

The personality trait that most defined Dan, and made him who he is. I always remember wondering if Dan's teammates at times disliked him, with the way he would rip into a players that made a mistake, but the answer is it didn't, though at that point it would probably anger whomever got torched by Dan, for the rest of the game that player more times then not played a better game, which made them better players.

Like Shula (Who ripped you also to shreds), they knew it came from driven men that refused to lose, which if you did not respect that, you did not deserve to be on that team. Dan was much tougher on himself, then those around him, and like Shula, expected nothing but perfection every play.