Joe Montana and Dan Marino to play flag football in candlestick Finale

[Christiancat]

Joe Montana, Dan Marino to play in Candlestick finale - NFL.com

How exciting!

 

[Boston Boxer]

I wonder if Marino will run up the score. The Marion i remember would still be passing in the 4th quarter up 24 points

 

[Ring 6]

I wonder if Marino will run up the score. The Marion i remember would still be passing in the 4th quarter up 24 points

Marino pass attempts per start 34.825
Tom Brady pass attempts per start 34.498

There is plenty to bag on Marino for in his playoff performances, no need to rip him unnecessarily.

 

[Raymond]

Marino's fault may be reflected when we see him blaming his receivers for a blown play.

He thought he was wrong once, it turned out he was mistaken.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Obviously not a Marino fan but those games where Bledsoe & Coates took on Marino's Dolphins were fun to watch pre-Belichick.

 

[supafly]

The Marino vs. Montana matchup was one of the 80s Super Bowls that I enjoyed the most, especially since I considered us a losing proposition in the 1985 SB. That was a team that everyone should be insanely proud of for becoming the first team to go on the road and win 3 games as a WC to overachieve and get to the big game, but there was a part of me that shuddered at the thought of facing that specific Bears team.

Of course, going up 3-0 to start the game swung my opinion in a different direction for a small period of time, but then the inevitable happened and the majority of people outside of NE fans quickly forgot about any 1985 "magic." We went right back to being the Patsies again and everyone just saw us as the whipping boy for the almighty Bears.

However, the SB in the previous season was a matchup that I strongly looked forward to as a young kid; honestly rooting for Marino's Dolphins to go to California and pull out an upset. Unfortunately for Marino, that was his only attempt at the big game, which tarnishes any legacy a whole lot.

It's pretty cool to see that matchup close out Candlestick park, even if it is a bit of a media and corporation based move.

 

[Brady6]

Marino has the Nutrisystem advantage...

 

[jmt57]

I wonder if Marino will run up the score. The Marion i remember would still be passing in the 4th quarter up 24 points

Marino pass attempts per start 34.825
Tom Brady pass attempts per start 34.498

There is plenty to bag on Marino for in his playoff performances, no need to rip him unnecessarily.

Though it may not seem all that long ago, it's a completely different game now - specifically in regards to the passing game.

Though Marino and Brady have nearly identical pass attempts per game, a more telling statistic would be to compare them to their peers. Marino led the league in pass attempts five times, and was second five more times; Brady has never led the league in pass attempts, and was second just once.

On the other hand, Marino had absolutely no running game to help him out either. In the first half of his career his leading rushers were Andra Franklin (746 yards in '83), Woody Bennett (606 in '84), Tony Nathan (667 in '85), Lorenzo Hampton (830 in '86), Troy Stradford (619 in '87), and Hampton again (414 in '88). It wasn't until '89-'90 that the Dolphins had the same leading rusher in back to back years - and that was the fumble-prone Sammie Smith whose NFL career lasted just two more years. (Remember when FSU's Sammie was considered by many 'experts' to be the better collegiate RB named Smith in the state of Florida - i.e., better than Florida's Emmitt? But back to the topic...)

Shula did have Marino throwing the ball a lot, more so in comparison to other teams at that time. But to be fair, their running game always stunk. During Marino's entire career his Dolphin teams had a 1,000-yard rusher just once; not so coincidentally it was in the first year after Jimmy Johnson replaced Shula. The propensity to pass may have been more on Shula than on Marino, in my opinion.

 

[Ring 6]

Though it may not seem all that long ago, it's a completely different game now - specifically in regards to the passing game.

Though Marino and Brady have nearly identical pass attempts per game, a more telling statistic would be to compare them to their peers. Marino led the league in pass attempts five times, and was second five more times; Brady has never led the league in pass attempts, and was second just once.

On the other hand, Marino had absolutely no running game to help him out either. In the first half of his career his leading rushers were Andra Franklin (746 yards in '83), Woody Bennett (606 in '84), Tony Nathan (667 in '85), Lorenzo Hampton (830 in '86), Troy Stradford (619 in '87), and Hampton again (414 in '88). It wasn't until '89-'90 that the Dolphins had the same leading rusher in back to back years - and that was the fumble-prone Sammie Smith whose NFL career lasted just two more years. (Remember when FSU's Sammie was considered by many 'experts' to be the better collegiate RB named Smith in the state of Florida - i.e., better than Florida's Emmitt? But back to the topic...)

Shula did have Marino throwing the ball a lot, more so in comparison to other teams at that time. But to be fair, their running game always stunk. During Marino's entire career his Dolphin teams had a 1,000-yard rusher just once; not so coincidentally it was in the first year after Jimmy Johnson replaced Shula. The propensity to pass may have been more on Shula than on Marino, in my opinion.

My point was it is silly to say Marino ran up the score throwing all the time.

 

[jmt57]

My point was it is silly to say Marino ran up the score throwing all the time.

Understood, and I agree.

Just felt that bringing up the number of pass attempts per game by Marino didn't help make that point. Perhaps a better reference point would be to look at his career game log; not a lot of blowout wins by the Dolphins over those years, and of the games that Miami did win easily, there were not a lot of 4th quarter touchdown passes.

Did Marino throw a lot?
Yes.

Run up the score and pad the stats?
No.