Is Dan Marino overrated?

[oplum29]

Originally Posted by dolphinsdude

Teams that won Superbowls back then had one thing in common, they all had an amazing defense. Dolphins had a top defense in '82 and '83 but by '85 it was in decline. Marino took those late 80's teams with no defense and no running game and kept them in most games with only the Marks brothers to work with.

His best chance to get back to the Superbowl was from 1993-1995 with the additions of Irving Fryar, Keith Jackson, and Keith Byars. He missed most of '93 and had to get through a Bills team chock full of HOFers and Natron Means and a Charger team who ran for 200 yards against them.

Jimmy gutted the offense to rebuild the defense, meanwhile running the ball at a 3.3 yard per average clip, every game for 3 quarters. By the time the defense was up to par it was to late and too many hits.

I feel bad for people, especially Dolphin fans, who has never seen him play pre-1996. He wasn't mobile, but had an uncanny way of dodging out of sacks in the pocket. Everyone knows about his quick release, but forget that he was a master at reading defenses, and taking advantage of mistakes by opposing secondaries. Not saying he is better than Montana or Brady, just saying Dan Marino is a legend during that era.

good analysis on Miami and Marino.

i think if Jimmy Johnson had more time, he might have been able to turn the Dolphins into a contender, but it was to late in Dan's career by then. he was basically a statue at that point in his career.

"offense wins game, defense wins championships" and Marino never had the defense to win those big playoff games. what's even more amazing is just how good Buffalo was during the same time span, and they couldn't get one SB win, not one.