When was Marino officially past his prime and why?

[spiral]

I know this topic sounds a little outdated and obscure, but having witnessed this offensive display in Indy I couldn't help but to feel a tad bit nostalgic.

As I'm watching Manning, who obviously is in his prime and Farve who is playing like he is still in his. When was our legendary QB officially past his?

Statistically, he left his prime in the 1987 strike-shortened season (right after his 44 TD pass season in 1986). He did have solid campaigns after that point in his career, but the TD-to-INT ratio was never as high as was his first 4 years in the league.
Personally I feel that Marino was in his prime for the first 10 years in the league...but a series of knee injuries eventually caught up with him at the end.
I also feel the injury to Dwight Stephenson was a major factor in the eventual return to mortality.
On a side note, I feel also that 1993 could have been Marino's best shot at a championship. He started off strong that season and was completing a high % of his passes. As memory serves, we actually had enough of a running attack to keep opposing defenses from pinning their ears back. Of course, that was the year his achilles ruptured and with it, the beginning of the end to his dominance. (Note: 1994 was exceptional due to the size of his heart, he limped for the remainder of his career and never again had the same agility)

PS- How many TD's would marino have had if these new defensive limitations had been in effect?

 

[JeffJewell]

Personally, I think Jimmy Johnson's myopic offensive strategy made no use of Marino's remaining talents and highlighted the limitations Shula worked around for years.

I will always believe that Jimmy Johnson ended Marino's career early.

 

[dolfan87]

Achilles injury...he was just never the same.

87

 

[Champion]

Achilles injury...he was just never the same.

87

Marino had his 3rd best (statistical) year the very next season AFTER his achilles injury. :cooldude:

 

[Dphins4me]

I'm going to say the '97 season is when he really started to look old to me.

 

[FinsNYanksFan13]

DOESN'T MATTER. The achillies injury ended any hope Marino had to win a ring!

 

[AtticusFinz]

When Shula retired....

:escape:

 

[Dphins4me]

DOESN'T MATTER. The achillies injury ended any hope Marino had to win a ring!

Disagree. The '94 Phins had a decent shot.

 

[FinsNYanksFan13]

If memory serves me (and I def. could be wrong), the last time the Dolphins went to the AFC championship game was 91 (or 92). To me, that is getting close. All Marino did towards the end of his career was win the wild card game and then get blown out in the 2nd round. I love Marino as much as any Dolphins fan (smiling at the poster on my wall), but after he tore his achillies, he was a sitting duck. I'll never forget Marino's 1 yard TD run against Buffalo (I think lol), it looked like a 50 yard TD run, him trying to get to the corner of the end zone lol

 

[StartingTailbak]

Marino was definitely not the same after the Achilles heel injury. However his second to last season he had some great stuff but was hamstrung by bad offensive playcalling.

With the current pass interference rules Marino in his prime would hit 4500 yds every season. Or at the very least he would move the ball very easily by forcing penalties and putting DBs in inadvantageous positions.

 

[Mr Yu]

Achilles injury...he was just never the same.

87

- Correct. After that he played well , but could not move the same way as he did before the achilles. I think most people forget how well he could move his feet. Not a runner of course , but he could roll out and buy more time , step-up in the pocket , make someone miss etcc. . The fact that he came back and played as well as he did had more to do with his determination.

 

[Noodle Arm]

It really started to show when Jimmy took over, mainly because the team shifted to a more defensive oriented team. So that pretty much took away Marino's weapons (then there was that whole "Danny's not allowed to audible" fiasco). Seeing Marino throw to the likes of Kirby Dar Dar and a washed up Tony Martin while having J.J. Johnson in the backfield were hard to watch. That's when he really started to show his age.

 

[phinfan2003]

I believe he was passed his prime around 96-97. The reason I feel is that Marino wasn't mobile at all and he was a pocket passer. The older he got, the more injuries he experienced (arm, shoulder, etc.). He had the best arm ever in his prime but because we relied on that arm so much, he couldn't thread the needle like he used to in his latter years and that was how he would beat you. He was a gunslingler like no other. He could throw through triple coverage in his prime but the older he got, the more injuries he got, the harder it was for him to compete at that high level we all remember. He still played like he did when he was in his prime and sometimes we'd see glimpses of magic but other times he looked old. If you remember, towards the end of his career Marino threw so many INT's that were returned for TD's especially on those out routes. I believe that can be attributed to the fact that his arm was just overused since we never had a running game and Marino only knew one way to play and he just didn't have it anymore.

 

[Acrunch]

Personally, I think Jimmy Johnson's myopic offensive strategy made no use of Marino's remaining talents and highlighted the limitations Shula worked around for years.
I will always believe that Jimmy Johnson ended Marino's career early.

What you said and I'll never for give JJ for that.

 

[djfresh47]

I think Marino was never really "past" his prime, I would compare his career to Brett Favre's right now, he wasn't as consistent as he was at a younger age but he was still very effective, you can't expect a QB to throw 40 td's every season. I think his last season he started to look old, it just seemed every pick he threw was returned for a TD. Now I believe he never really had Pro Bowl WR'S after the Marks bros. After they left the best WR they had was Slow J McDuffie who wasn't a deep threat.