Quarterback Profile: Dan Marino, A Wasted Legend

Posted byRafael CastilloPosted inUncategorizedTags:, ,

Dan Marino is without a doubt one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, putting the ring argument aside, he had a very strong case for being the GOAT (greatest of all time) of the position at the time of his retirement (at the conclusion of the 1999 season).

Marino held several statistical career records and anyone who ever saw him play marveled at his talent. The only knock against him is that he never won the big game, he ended his career without a Super Bowl title and for quarterbacks it has become a prerequisite for inclusion in any GOAT argument.

But is Marino’s lack of rings a knock against his greatness or his team? Fans and media like to claim that a true great can carry teams to championships, but that truly has never been the case, with very few exceptions every Super Bowl winner has been a great team.

Dan was an elite quarterback for his entire career, every metric tells you that, the film told you that. The reason Marino didn’t hoist a Super Bowl trophy was because of the Miami Dolphins franchise. They wasted arguably the greatest talent of the position by not surrounding him with the supporting cast needed to win a championship.

In this statistical analysis of Dan Marino’s career it will become evident that he was truly a wasted legend.

Traditional Statistics Rankings

At the time of his retirement, after the 1999 season, these were Dan’s career rankings in each major quarterback traditional statistic:

Yearly Positional Ranking

When Marino retired he had accumulated 12 seasons of elite performance, meaning he ranked top 5 at his position for a particular year in the entire league. This figure was the most all-time at the conclusion of his career, second place at the time only had 8 elite seasons, Dan Fouts and Steve Young were tied at that number.

Currently only Peyton Manning has more total elite seasons with 13. Tom Brady still trails Dan Marino, having only 11 such seasons on his resume with several more seasons played than Dan, 19 (and will go up to 20 in 2021 for Brady) versus 16.

The following is the yearly positional ranking Marino earned throughout his career:

  • 1983 – 4 (DYAR: 7, DVOA: 2, ANY/A: 1)
  • 1984 – 1 (DYAR: 1, DVOA: 1, ANY/A: 1)
  • 1985 – 2 (DYAR: 1, DVOA: 2, ANY/A: 5)
  • 1986 – 2 (DYAR: 1, DVOA: 2, ANY/A: 3)
  • 1987 – 2 (DYAR: 2, DVOA: 2, ANY/A: 3)
  • 1988 – 3 (DYAR: 1, DVOA: 3, ANY/A: 6)
  • 1989 – 6 (DYAR: 6, DVOA: 7, ANY/A: 7)
  • 1990 – 5 (DYAR: 2, DVOA: 5, ANY/A: 7)
  • 1991 – 4 (DYAR: 4, DVOA: 6, ANY/A: 4)
  • 1992 – 3 (DYAR: 2, DVOA: 4, ANY/A: 4)
  • 1993 – Injured
  • 1994 – 2 (DYAR: 2, DVOA: 4, ANY/A: 3)
  • 1995 – Not Top 10 (DYAR: 11, DVOA: 11, ANY/A: 7)
  • 1996 – 1 (DYAR: 3, DVOA: 1, ANY/A: 1)
  • 1997 – 4 (DYAR: 1, DVOA: 4, ANY/A: 7)
  • 1998 – Not Top 10 (DYAR: 11, DVOA: 12, ANY/A: 15)
  • 1999 – Not Top 10 (DYAR: 22, DVOA: 23, ANY/A: 26, EPA/Play: 21)

Supporting Cast

Marino’s level of sustained greatness had never been seen before, people see the historic numbers and believe he must have had several opportunities to win a title, then question why he was unable to win a Super Bowl.

When you look at what Marino had in terms of support, especially in the defensive side, it is clear that he didn’t really have the team to win it all.

Miami Dolphins Yearly Defensive Rankings:

28 Teams

30 Teams

31 Teams

5 out of his first 10 seasons the Dolphins gave Marino the worst (or near it) defense in the NFL. When they finally gave Dan a single digit ranked defensive unit, he was past his prime in his next to last season.

Miami Dolphins Yearly Special Teams Rankings:

28 Teams

30 Teams

31 Teams

Miami Dolphins Yearly Rush Rankings:

28 Teams

30 Teams

31 Teams

Early on the Dolphins did provide Marino a running game but it coincided with poor defensive units. During Dan’s final 10 seasons, he had a rushing attack better than 15 only once.

Postseason Career

Miami Dolphins playoff games during the Dan Marino era (teams overall rating is in parentheses):

Marino had a 8-10 playoff record but looking at some of his opponents and understanding the support he had in those games, he probably should have won less than he did.

A Wasted Legend

Throughout his hall of fame career, Dan Marino showed up and performed at an elite level, his team however did not match this or provide him with just good enough support for him to cement his legacy with a Super Bowl ring.

Lacking this piece of hardware has diminished his legacy tremendously. His body of work on the field warranted his name to be placed in the greatest of all time (GOAT) conversation, if not now, certainly at the time of his retirement when he held several individual records and had done things on the field that had never been seen before.

There is this belief that superstar quarterbacks can win titles on their own but usually great teams do. Football is the ultimate team sport, if you look at the teams that won the big game during Marino’s 17 year career (played 16, missed 1 due to injury), 11 of them were the number 1 ranked in overall team rating, this was the case during 7 of his 10 playoff runs. The other Marino playoff years where the number 1 overall team didn’t win were won by the Raiders (1983), 49ers (1994), Cowboys (1995) and each of them was ranked within the top 3 teams.

Marino missed the postseason in 6 seasons, every single one of those years he either had the worst defense in the whole league (on 4 occasions he did) or near it.

Having all this data at hand should make it clear that Dan Marino was more than good enough to win a Super Bowl, he is a top 5 quarterback of all time, and that the Dolphins wasted a legendary career.

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