You are confusing '83 Miami with later Dolphin cupcake teams in the Marino era. In '83 we were still a very balanced team. I don't have the numbers in front of me but I've posted them many times so it's fairly simple to recall. We ran the ball more than 30 times in virtually every game that season. I think the exception was the loss at New England.
Not until the road game at San Diego in '84 did the Dolphin powder puff era begin, refusing to run the ball and therefore forfeiting any semblance of legitimacy.
Still, I pick Marino. No rookie QB had more field presence than Dan. The playoff loss was attributable to a sloppy field and a great opposing rookie RB in Curt Warner. We had many marginal athletes on defense in those years and they couldn't threaten to contain someone as aggressive and slippery as Warner. He was HOF caliber minus the knee injury suffered early the following season. Damn shame.
I remember Greg Cook, who everyone raves about. He fit the mode of that era, downfield brilliance but high INT ratio and relatively low completion percentage. Great stature and arm. I watched the '69 opener when he beat us. At that point the legend status hadn't begun but it was in full force within a month. Against Miami, Cook would trot to the sideline and look baffled like a normal rookie QB.
He's like some of the young horses who never got to fulfill their promise, like Hoist the Flag or Landaluce or Vindication.
Vince Young doesn't belong on a list like that. He was a stiff, then as now.
When I was a kid the TV commentators assessing this category always raved about Bob Waterfield of the Rams. I think he was a rookie starter and won the title. It's a prime example of how absurdly the lists always tilt toward recent seasons. The Waterfield backers are long gone, from the airwaves and this earth.
Actually, I think Waterfield dominates this category when you consider he was already married to Jane Russell as a rookie. That's two huge, uh, accomplishments. :D
