Just to break the monotony, here are some quotes on Dan. We've probably all heard them all, but re-hashing it from time to time is nice. Reading things like this really brings back the nostalgic feeling of seeing Danny carve up secondaries. And he did most of his damage before all the rules were changed to help receivers get open. Dan Marino has been quietly refered to as the greatest player in NFL history. "I watched his whole career..he's the greatest player of all time" .... Mike Ditka "He will go down as the greatest player ever to play" ....Bruce Smith Buffalo Bills "If you asked all the players off camera....they will all tell you he's the greatest to play the game...I say...he's the greatest to ever play the game" .... Verne Lundquist TNT CBS sports "He's the best quarterback I ever saw" ..... Terry Bradshaw "In my opinion....he's the best" ..... Troy Aikman "You're talking about a player who really changed the game.Dan's play made coaches change their way of thinking about the passing game, both offensively and defensively. ..... Jimmy Johnson "If you could build a quarterback from scratch,he would look and act just Like Dan Marino" ..... Foge Fazio university of PITT "Dan Marino was a pheonomenom...There just havent been men like him.......Bill Walsh "To many, he is the greatest football player who ever lived"....quote from "Dan Marino Where the dream began" I love to see Marino play, because you can see how much he loves it. He has a fire in his belly. He lays it all out. When he gets angry, I love it. He's obsessed with driving his team. No quarterback has played the game better than Dan Marino. Ever." ...Fran Tarkenton, as quoted in several sources, including Sports Illustrated, Sport Magazine and the Detroit Free Press. Barry Sanders said, "Individuals don't win Super Bowls, teams do." Even though he never won a ring, Dan "THE MAN" Marino is still better than Peyton Manning. " I dont think of myself in your class...and I never will" Brett Favre talking to Dan Marino There is no defense against a perfect pass. I can throw the perfect pass....Dan Marino "He is defiantly the greatest". "Dan used to always say, DB's are like credit cards, I take them out and use them whenever I want to. And he did too". O.J.Mcduffie Dan Marino reached the 200th touchdown mark in 89 games...it was the fastest anyone ever reached the 200 touchdown mark. 200 touchdowns Dan Marino 89 games Peyton Manning 106 games Brett Favre 107 games
Well, all I know is he sure as hell was fun to watch. I always felt like we had a chance, no matter what the score was, as long as #13 was at the helm.
Awesome. I am thankful to have been able to watch his entire career. I guess that is why it makes it so hard to see any one else at the helm and not compare them to him (at least a little).
I was a young anlgp when marino was still playing in his glory years and wasn't watching football when he retired. I don't remember seeing marino all that much because at the time there was no internet for me to be able to look him up. One of these days I've promised myself I will go look up his highlights and this thread may have just made this the day.
The best season ever.....and I was lucky enough to watch Marino that whole season because of Season Tickets. Its a shame Favre obliterated almost all of his records because now the "he doesn't have a ring" crowd have almost written the man off. Its so disrespectful
Never saw a great source for this quote, but I have seen more than once on the internet where Bill Walsh supposedly said something like: "Joe Montana is a the perfect system quarterback. Dan Marino is the system."
Dan Marino was truly a surgeon who could carve up a defense with precision. He may be the only quarterback to ever play the game that defenses had to specially prepare for and never could seem to defend agains't even though he never had a stellar supporting cast. I am sure Duper and Clayton could give you some really good compliments about Marino. Win or lose, SuperBowl ring or not, Dan Marino gave us all a great sense of pride in our football team and what Dan Marino meant to it and the NFL. Fans everywhere loved to watch No# 13 play and perform his magic. Great quotes SCall13.
That was Bill Walsh, Joe Montana's own coach. He said: "Joe Montana was the product of a system. Dan Marino was the system."
The super bowl win means a lot. McNabb isn't nearly the same QB as marino/favre but he is the best QB the eagles have ever had. Yet the fans in Philly are already booing him out of town because he "can't win them a super bowl" and just like we were when marino retires the eagles and eagles fans will be hurting when McNabb goes. And before you guys hound me about "did you just compare marino and mcnabb". no, i didn't. only in terms of them both being good (in marinos case, a HOF) QBs and not getting a ring. It just goes to show you that while the QB might be able to produce winning seasons it's not all you need to win a championship. a lot of fans blame the coach and the quarterback & usually in that order... like they say; you don't know what you've got til it's gone.
Favre wouldn't have put those numbers up had he started off in the same era as Marino. Also, Favre had 29 more career starts than Marino. Danny averaged 1.75 TDs per game started. Favre averaged 1.64 TDs per games started. And Favre did all, or most of his damage in an era when the rules began to strongly favor WRs in the passing game. Also (let's not forget) Favre also holds the all time INT mark. That, to me, takes him well out of Marino's class. Anyway, if you add 29 more career starts for Marino, Favre likely wouldn't have caught him. In 1993, the achilles injury, Marino only played 4 1/2 games. He was on pace for another 30+ TDs that season. In my mind, no one will ever touch Marino. He was THE perfect QB. He had it all. And you can't really say that about any other QB, IMO.
My argument to anyone who throws Super Bowl rings in the equation when comparing QBs is this: Mark Rypien, Doug Williams, Trent Dilfer, Ben Rothlisberger (yeah, he's a pretty good QB - but nowhere remotely close to the vicinity of Marino), Joe Theismann, Jeff Hostetler, Brad Johnson, Jim McMahon, Phil Simms. None of these guys could carry Marino's jock. I could even name Steve Young and Troy Aikman - neither are as good as Marino. But they were good QBs. It takes a team. Marino often carried mediocre teams to winning records. He was something special.
Here is a pretty cool Marino vid [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTPFdn9uzj8"]YouTube - Dan Marino Highlights[/ame]
However we all know, the "Ring" thing is only an excuse for those who had hate for Marino. Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl ring and he couldn't hold Marino's jockstrap. If you watched the man play, you know how good he was, and what excitement he brought to games. If the Dolphins were down by less than 7, with 2 minutes left in the game, you just KNEW the Dolphins would win (even if they didn't), he instilled that much confidence in him. The main ingredient in how great a player is ? Is if he makes players around him better, and Dan Marino did that each and every time he put on a Miami Dolphins uniform.
SCall to be fair, didn't Favre sit on the bench in Atlanta for 3 years......I agree with your premise but if you take those 3 years off of Favre's average, and only count the games in which he started as QB, the stats are maybe actually a little better than Marino (I would guess, as I don't have them in front of me) But I agree Marino played in a much more unfriendly era for QB's and WR's. And that is what tips the scale in his favor.
Every time I see that man, I am so proud to be a Dolphin fan. He was the absolute best at the game. I've been a fan for years Shula really got me hooked. The perfect season etc., then Dan just added the sweetness of being a fan. Loved seeing Nat Moore, he was always a favorite of mine. I've got an OLD #89 jersey.
Dont forget that Dan lost one season, basically taken away, due to the achillies injury and he didn't start right off the bat either. He was on fire that year before the injury that season.... .... ... .. SCREW YOU CLEVELAND BROWNS STADIUM CREW.
If Marino played today with the rules he'd have 100,000 passing yards instead of 61,000. Truely the best ever at any position!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its wierd to know that possibly the 2 most talented football players (Marino and Sanders) dont have a ring. They were utterly unstoppable on their best days. Sadly, neither ever really had enough of a team built around them to go all the way. I think in terms of pure talent and ability, Marino is clearly the best ever QB. In terms of NFL success, no. Youd have to go with a Montana or someone of that ilk. The worst thing was seeing one of the few guys that could compare to Marino in terms of talent, Elway, finally getting his due knowing Dan never got that chance. Its a shame no Terrel Davis ever emerged to put the finishing touch on his career.
honestly, ive seen the quote before, but i have a hard time believing that in the slightest that Walsh called Montana the product of a system...i think this one is a myth personally
how about this: lol [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa9LNPwZIGA"]YouTube - Dan Marino Freak out[/ame]
i remember that "perfect pass" video in a monday night game intro, forgot which game it was, but it sounded so arrogant, i loved it
I remember my dad taking me too see the Dolphins play when I was a kid. I marveled at how he could throw than 15-20 yard fly pattern and make the ball just dive over the top of the DB. You couldn't stop that pass, it was unfair to the defender. I can still remember it to this day, the receiver didn't have to breathe hard it was so easy to catch. I was at the game when he set the record for most completions. That was cool.
The best quote I saw about Marino as from Keith Jackson (TE) during his first week of TC in '92...now I don't remember the exact quote but the gist was " The first time we ran a play, he asked me where I wanted the ball. I said, well ideally put it over my left ear, as that would actually be the best place for the ball and the easiest place for me to catch it...we ran the play and the ball was exactly where I had asked it to be. I've never been with a QB who was that accurate, and we're talking about a 15 yd out pattern, not a dump off pass...amazing how accurate he is...if, as a receiver, you don't catch his balls, you should be doing something else..." Again, I am paraphrasing, but it always stuck out to me and that was not a 1984 Marino, that was a 1992 Marino... I also remember Cris Carter saying that a wide receivers' dream QB is Marino, bar none...
I remember that quote, but like you, not verbatim. It's incredible that he had that type of accuracy: "Where do you want it?" Sweet.