Outside of Dolphin Stadium, the life-sized-bronze-statue of Dan Marino greets Dolphin fans and foes alike as a reminder of the Dolphin quarterback who held NFL passing records for years.
Marino’s records stood for decades before the likes of Tom Brady, Drew Breeze and Peyton Manning erased some of them from the NFL record book.
Dolphin fans may have to concede that Marino, as great of a passer that he was, may not win by comparing statistics even though he played quarterback for the Dolphins longer than Brady played quarterback for the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Marino was the 27th pick and the 6th quarterback selected in the first round of the 1983 NFL draft. John Elway, Todd Blacklege, Jim Kelly, Tony Eason and Ken O’Brien were all chosen before Marion who finished quarterbacking at the University of Pittsburgh in 1983.
Just as five other quarterbacks were chosen before Marino was drafted, Tom Brady, a quarterback at the University of Michigan, was the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL draft with six other quarterbacks being selected before he was chosen by the New England Patriots.
After his rookie season that was spent on the bench as the backup quarterback for Drew Bledsoe, Brady got his chance to rewrite the record book, and he did.
Out of the 318 games he played in the NFL, he started 316 in which he completed 7,263 passes out of 11,317 attempts.
Marino had held the NFL record for the most total passing yards in history at 61,361 achieved during his career that began in 1983 and ended in 1997 after he had rewritten the NFL record book for quarterbacks. He was the first NFL quarterback to throw for more than 5,000 yards in a season, and he had eclipsed Y.A. Tittle’s and George Blanda’s shared NFL record of having tossed 36 touchdown passes during a single season.
Marion’s second season in the NFL was a storybook season. He set a new NFL record by passing for 5,084 yards in 1984, and his 48 touchdowns were 12 more in a single season than any NFL quarterback had ever thrown.
Ironically, the year the Dolphins retired Marino’s jersey, No. 13, Tom Brady was No. 4 on the depth chart for the New England Patriots and spent most of the season sitting on the bench. During his entire first NFL season, he threw only three passes, completing one for six yards.
Only Bob Griese had been honored by the Dolphins in franchise history by having his jersey retired, and Griese was the quarterback of the Dolphins during the team’s “dream season” in 1972, the year the Dolphins remained undefeated as world champions. Led by Coach Don Shula, the Dolphins finished 14-0 and defeated Washington 14-7 to win Super Bowl VII.
Incredibly, after retiring following the 2021-2022 season, Brady has virtually rewritten the NFL record book as a quarterback who has in his possession seven Super Bowl rings.
Marino finished his career without quarterbacking his Dolphins to a Super Bowl victory, and the only season he had the chance to do so was the 1984 season when Joe Montana led the San Francisco 49ers to a resounding 36-18 defeat of the Dolphins that Marino had quarterbacked to a 12-0 start before losing to the San Diego Chargers and Los Angeles Rams to finish at 14-2.
To his credit, Marino did well in his only Super Bowl appearance, throwing for 318 yards by completing 29 of the 50 passes he threw, including the one he completed for a touchdown. The yardage was the second-highest number in the history of the Super Bowl.
During his career, he rewrote the NFL record books, and it took Peyton Manning and Drew Breeze along with Brady to erase some of Marino’s passing records.
Marino’s 1984 season was remarkable in that he began the season by throwing five touchdown passes in the first game and four more in the last game of the season. He completed 362 passes of the 564 passes he threw for an average of 318 passing yards per game.
His career passing average per pass completed was 7.3 yards, and as a sure-handed quarterback who had a quick release and a powerful arm, Marino only fumbled 59 times in 242 games, losing the football only 19 times.
By comparison, Brady fumbled the football 129 times during his 318 games in which he played, 316 as the starter. His fumbles resulted in the opponents gaining control of the football 52 times.
Also, Brady’s average yardage for each pass that he completed was 7.4, just a shade better than Marino’s. During the 2011 season, Brady eclipsed Marino’s passing yards a season by throwing for 5,235 yards.
Brady ended his career with 7,263 completed passes out of the 11,317 passes he attempted, and his 84,520 total yards far surpassed Marino’s total.
Of the 11,317 passes Brady threw during his NFL career, only 203 were intercepted compared to the 624 that resulted in touchdowns.
While Marino can drive by Dolphin Stadium and admire his bronze statue, Brady needs but to look at the seven Super Bowl rings he can wear on his fingers, six won as a Patriot and one as a Buccaneer.