Independent position article. Quit confusing the two. Dan isn't less of a QB for not winning a SB anymore than Brad Johnson or Trent Dilfer are great for being parasites on championship defense teams that won SBs.
Really a sad story there. On the field, there's no way he was ever going to hold off Dan Marino so 1983 was going to be it for him in Miami. In two years in Pittsburgh he didn't find a ton of success going head to head with Mark Malone in 1984-85 either. Then he just got out. He had an early TD in his one super bowl and a special teams kick return gave us a little room also but he failed to complete a 2nd half pass in super bowl XVII and we got "Riggins'ed" in the 4th quarter. Off the field it was worse. Needed a liver transplant at 33 back in 1992 and died 11 years later at 44 due to complications with his liver and kidneys. Really just became a shut in and drank a lot. Just a sad life after his Miami days. R.I.P. David!
Maybe Don Shula's best year coaching. Getting the team on the brink of a super bowl championship with David Woodley as quarterback speaks to his brilliance as a coach.
I think it was his best. The bigger, bulkier Skins team pushed us around on both sides of the ball on the lines but somehow our pass D held up and picked Theisman 2x. One of them at the skins 40 in the 2nd half. Woodley couldn’t do anything and we didn’t get any points out of it. And really the play of the game was not the Riggins run - it was Theisman playing DEFENSE on his own pass. That play goes for a TD and goodnight at 24-13 in the 4th. No more Riggins and they couldn’t throw on us. The skins were the better team but Shula almost pulled this one out. A very underrated SB.
HBO did a documentary on him after he died. His ex wife said he drank a case of beer the night before the SB. He suffered from social anxiety but it wasn’t diagnosed back then in those days. Apparently it’s why he never took his helmet off or gave interviews / wasn’t comfortable talking to the media. So he drank... He was an immensely talented athlete and had a huge arm. I still remember him catching a TD vs the Jets on a trick play. Shula got a lot out of him considering he was an 8th round pick. I believe he holds the highest win % of any QB in fins history (I know it’s misleading) - but shows just how much Shula was on his game at the time.
Remember, it’s not about how they played in the game but how good they were overall relative to each other.
