The Shula/Marino Effect

[FinFan57]

As a long time Dolphins fan, I have never experienced the lows we have all felt the last two years. Undoubtedly, this is the worst, darkest period in the history of the franchise. Our team has never looked so lost and so hopeless as it has these past two seasons. I think I know why we feel so horrible.

Don Shula was simply the greatest NFL coach in history.....period. No one was ever more consistent, produced more with less, and created a winning attitude better than Shula. No one ever coached a perfect season. No one brought stability, class, and winning to a franchise for three decades. No one except Don Shula. We always had a chance to be special with Shula and we never underachieved. In fact, we usually overachieved.

Dan Marino was the most talented QB in NFL history. He never won the Super Bowls like Montana, but no QB was as talented as Marino. No QB could single-handedly pick his team up, put them on his shoulders, and carry them to victory like Marino. No one ever passed as well as Dan Marino....period.

The Miami Dolphins legacy of the two most important positions in football, the head coach and the QB, linger today and continue to haunt every coach and QB that has tried to follow in Shula's and Marino's footsteps. They have set the bar so high that we may never see the likes of their excellence again, but as Dolfans we have vivid memories and enduring pride that we are fans of the most successful sports organization in modern history. Because of Marino and Shula.

I had hoped Nick Saban would be the second coming of Don Shula, but I will settle for the first coming of a decent, winning coach. It's not fair to compare Saban to Shula, but it is hard to avoid. Shula was all we knew for 25 years and it seems like we just glossed over the JJ/Wanny era as a stop-gap between Shula and Saban. You KNOW we will never find another Marino, but a serviceable QB, instead of the comedy act we saw yesterday in Cleveland would be nice. It is not just winning that matters, but the pathetic display of incompetence we saw in Cleveland simply never happened during the Shula era. I never want to see anything like that from this team again.

It's so hard to let go of the Shula/Marino era. Such a proud and wonderful time to be a Dolfan. But we must look to the future as we swallow our pride today and hope that this once proud organization can return to greatness.

 

[MikeO]

It's so hard to let go of the Shula/Marino era. Such a proud and wonderful time to be a Dolfan. But we must look to the future as we swallow our pride today and hope that this once proud organization can return to greatness.

Shula has been gone for 10 years. Marino for 5 or 6 now........if you havent let go of either by now then you never will.

 

[Marino420TD]

One clear thing that separated Shula, and allowed him to coach so effectively for so long was how well he handled his QBs. Griese, Morrall, Strock, Woodley, Marino, Mitchell, Deberg. Even when one went down, the backup always was prepared and always gave us a chance. He set the all-time coaching wins record with Doug Pederson playing! Shula's backups were better and more prepared than any QB we had since 99.

 

[MikeO]

One clear thing that separated Shula, and allowed him to coach so effectively for so long was how well he handled his QBs. Griese, Morrall, Strock, Woodley, Marino, Mitchell, Deberg. Even when one went down, the backup always was prepared and always gave us a chance. He set the all-time coaching wins record with Doug Pederson playing! Shula's backups were better and more prepared than any QB we had since 99.

Since the days Shula has coached about 4 or 5 MORE teams have come into the league. The talent is more spread out. Unfair comparison.

 

[FinFan57]

Mike O - I'm not sure you read the post. There is a lingering effect, and you will see by some of the posts here, in terms of the legacy that Shula and Marino built. Who wants to let go of that era when you watch a game like yesterday?

I couldn't be more excited about Ronnie Brown and I'm still hopeful we will get better, but the legacy lingers and Saban has his work cut out for him.

 

[MikeO]

Mike O - I'm not sure you read the post. There is a lingering effect, and you will see by some of the posts here, in terms of the legacy that Shula and Marino built. Who wants to let go of that era when you watch a game like yesterday?

I couldn't be more excited about Ronnie Brown and I'm still hopeful we will get better, but the legacy lingers and Saban has his work cut out for him.

the era is gone. Long gone. Stop clutching and grabbing to it.

 

[N-E-O]

I feel your pain...Now a glimmer of hope to the desperate soul...Look no further than the hated Dallas Cowboys...Yes ...Americas team....Proud but beat down before Troy,Emmitt & the rest were drafted after terrible and painful 2 or 3 win seasons.They go down and come up swinging until they have a hand full of gold.This is the path we must also take to win the prize again.It bites during this time of rebuilding but in the end it is worth it....Just ask any Cowboy's fan.

 

[Marino420TD]

Since the days Shula has coached about 4 or 5 MORE teams have come into the league. The talent is more spread out. Unfair comparison.

I don't think so. Morrall was brought in as a castoff nobody wanted. Woodley was a late draft pick, and Shula tailored the offense to use his athletic ability to make plays. Deberg was brought out of retirement. Nobody else wanted them. Shula did, prepared them well, put them in a position to suceed, and they were able to make plays for the team. All played 10 times better than anybody we had in the last few years. He didn't ask Woodley to be a pocket QB, he didn't ask Strock to run around like Woodley.

It's about preparation, getting the most out of your players, and tailoring plays to what they do best.

This team has not selected a decent QB in the draft in just about forever (Scott Mitchell? and he was just decent). When they have brought in players, they don't fit or are used incorrectly. Take Brian Griese. He has proven to be a serviceable QB in the right system in Den and TB. But he did not fit with our system (and we certainly were not going to change for him).

Look at how Parcells got decent play our of Ray Lucas. But he comes here and sucks.

To me, it's like Denver and RB's. They have a good system, they prepare well, and most RB's come and and are effective.