myopiclunacy.com

Finally someone took a pause from the Patriot and Tom Brady lovefest to really examine just how dominant Dan Marino was in 1984, and how dominant he would have been with today’s DB rules:

1. Dan Marino, Miami, 1984: Marino used his second NFL season to terrorize opposing defenses on a weekly basis. Blessed with a quick release and a rocket right arm, he produced a season-long performance that required its own section in the league record books once he was done. Marino set NFL marks for yards (he became the first player to pass for 5,000 yards in a season with 5,084) and touchdown passes (he blew away the old mark of 36 with 48 of his own) and he led the Dolphins to a spot in that year’s Super Bowl. Marino’s Hall of Fame career included many great seasons but nothing ever came close to those feats. In fact, there is one chief reason his performance still ranks better than those produced more recently by Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning and New England’s Tom Brady: The application of the rules was different. Both Manning and Brady benefited from the league’s decision in March 2004 to place a greater emphasis on enforcing the illegal contact rule, which penalizes defenders who touched receivers more than five yards away from the line of scrimmage. If Marino had that advantage going for him, nobody would’ve ever matched the season he produced 24 years ago.

While Marino shattered the single season records that came before him, today’s QBs in pass happy offenses have only inched past in years when they had career seasons. Still no one but Marino has eclipsed 5000 yards passing. And unlike Manning’s and Brady’s one year passing TD spike, Marino’s 1986 season for a long time stood as the #2 passing season of all time with 44 TDs and over 4700 yards.

The author also astutely points out that both Jerry Rice (22 TD catches, then an NFL record) and Reggie White (21 sacks) both had Hall-of-Fame seasons in 1987, playing in only 12 games because of the strike. Time to get a little perspective. Since we can’t put Marino and Brady on the field together, let’s analyze them where we can - their dominance in comparison to their era. Give some love to the old school!

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