I tell people that all the time. Somebody needs to tell Marino hater Bob Kuchenberg and Mercury Morris that too.
Just count up the number of HOF players on those Niners teams then compare it to Marino’s teams circa 1984-1997. Same will be true of Brady and his Patriots teammates once all is said and done.
FWIW, the Dolphins defense was in the bottom half of the league 12 of those 13 seasons.
Marino elevated teams that weren’t that good w/o him.
@bane and
@royalshank brought up 1993, which was a prime example of this. 4-1 with him, 5-6 without.
Naysayers like to slam Marino for never winning a SB when the cold reality was, replace him with Montana, Brady, Manning, etc. and those same Dolphins teams still don’t win a SB.
The one legit shot Marino had in 1984, they faced arguably the 49ers best all-around team during their 80’s, 90’s hey day. And one of the best Super Bowl era teams.
Next to the 2007 Patriots, that 1984 Niners team came closest to matching the 1972 Dolphins unbeaten record. Their only loss was by 3 points to PIT in a game they held a 7 point Q4 lead.
Most fans think of the 1985 Bears, but that team got beat by two TD’s by our Dolphins as their lone loss. Furthermore, the ‘84 Niners beat the precursor to that ‘85 Bears team 23-0 just prior to beating Marino and MIA in the SB. The Dolphins lost by a similar margin (22).
Not many teams throughout history were beating that 49ers team.
Circling back to Kuchenberg and Morris, who piss me off with their arrogance and ignorance. While both were great Miami Dolphins, someone needs to get through to them that the Dolphins would have won SB’s w/o them. They certainly contributed and helped, but they weren’t difference makers on their own.
Besides, those teams largely won on the strength of their no name defense.
Transport Kuchenberg and Morris to the 1984 - 1997 era Dolphins and guess what? They don’t have rings either. Meanwhile Marino easily ends up with a ring on those early 70’s teams.
Point of the matter is exactly what was quoted above. Better teams were built around those other players.
Marino is as much a winner as any other QB or player that can be named. When a game was in the balance and he had the ball in his hands, he succeeded a lot more than he failed, regardless of the talent around him. That’s a winner.
Not being part of a SB championship doesn’t disqualify anyone. Not everyone played on a team with enough talent to do so.
I see John Elway in the same light. He elevated flawed teams that were exposed by better opposition. But an aged and shell of himself Elway was finally able to be part of a winner once the talent around him wasn’t so flawed. Especially the defense.