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There was an enormous outcry in South Florida over the weekend when a series of controversial tweets were made on Twitter about former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino. Those opinions were that the Hall of Famer was overrated as a player and doesn’t rank anywhere near the top of the list of past or current NFL quarterbacks.
Those opinions are wrong. Marino is the greatest quarterback ever. There is no need for statistics to prove his greatness. When he retired in March of 2000, Marino owned almost every important passing record in the game’s history. By the way, those numbers stood tall for over 10 years. Other quarterbacks had a cannon arm, a quick release, a beautiful football brain and a unique passion for winning like Marino does, but not one had all that in one package.
The biggest knock on No. 13 is that he has a grand total of zero Super Bowl championships. Really? That is such a cop-out to just bash Marino. Peyton Manning is the greatest quarterback of this generation and he won the big game once. Meanwhile, current NFL signal callers Joe Flacco, Eli Manning and Russell Wilson have all won Super Bowls with hardly the talent Marino possessed.
Then there is the bevy of former quarterbacks such as Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, Doug Williams and Jim McMahon who have hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy. I’m not even getting into that.
The three quarterbacks that come up the most in comparison to Marino are Joe Montana, John Elway and Tom Brady. Each QB has won multiple titles and Super Bowl MVPs, so they are automatically thrust past Marino on most lists. While each of these names is legendary in NFL lore, they still aren’t better than Marino.
Montana is the lone quarterback to beat Marino in the Super Bowl (Super Bowl XIX). Although “Joe Cool” went on to more Super Bowl acclaim, Marino never made it back to the big game. Let’s face it, Marino never had a Ronnie Lott-led defense like those San Francisco 49ers teams did. He didn’t have a running back like Roger Craig who ran and caught for over 1,000 yards in the same season.
Marino did have the dynamic duo of Mark Clayton and Mark Duper at receiver, but Montana had the terrific John Taylor and Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice. Rice may actually be the best football player ever at any position.
Elway is very comparable because his arm was stronger than Marino’s and he had awesome running ability. Yet, Elway lost every Super Bowl he competed in until he got help from running back Terrell Davis, who was a 2,000-yard rusher, a season MVP, a Super Bowl MVP and a member of the NFL’s All-Decade team of the 1990s.
That leads us to the only active member of this trio. Brady is coming off his fourth Super Bowl victory. He has a great arm and a winner’s attitude, but does anyone else realize that two of those titles could have been subtracted if kicker Adam Vinatieri missed game-winning field goals?
The system Brady plays in with the New England Patriots is suited for the quarterback. When Brady missed almost the entire 2008 season due to injury, backup Matt Cassel came in and went 11-5. The Patriots have also played in a water-downed version of the AFC East for most of Brady’s career.
For the past few years, the NFL has turned into a passing league, making quarterbacks’ numbers skyrocket. It wasn’t until these rules changes that Marino’s records became extinct. Clayton and Duper both were barely 5-foot-9 and combined to weigh about 350 pounds. The Detroit Lions’ Calvin Johnson stands 6-foot-5, 250 pound by himself, and he’s not the only receiver that size. Could you imagine Marino with Megatrons like that?
My guess is that if Marino played now, he’d average around 40 touchdowns, 4,000 yards and be the eighth-best QB in the league. Why the modest numbers? Well, he is 53-years old with gimpy knees, after all.
Nik Zirounis is an NFL/Miami Dolphins writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @realnikz and like him on Facebook
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