Great film. I agree, we were spoiled.

That New England game that started it was a classic! Bledsoe v. Marino matchup (Parcells and Shula coaching). Back in the days when we had no defense, had a bunch of lead changes. On 4th and 6, late in the game, Marino hits Irving Fryer 30 yards down field, in stride for a TD. Awesome stuff.

Then they show that great Jets V. Miami from back in mid-80s. Duper was coming off a major injury, his first game back. Late in the game, Marino hits him with a strike, 40 yards down field and 5 yards behind the defender. TD. We win.

Those were the days.

don't forget, that pats game was his first back from his achilles if I remember correctly. He played badly in the preseason and people were questions whether he'd ever be the same. then he lights up the pats in game 1. awesome. I remember watching that game in college in boston with a bunch of my friends who were pats fans. the looks on their faces when marino beat them with the 4th and 1 TD to Fryer was priceless.

I remember Dan offering to take salary cuts in order to keep the team competitive. What an incredibly unselfish and awesome franchise QB he was. I sure miss him. To this day it pains me so much that he didn't get his ring that he so truly deserved.

and---his decision to retire a phin (even after wanny treated him with no respect) rather than continue playing as a viking was 100% class--compare this to farve or the rest of the mercenaries who make up the league now.

The Best! Nuff said!

I grew up in KS and only got to see him on MNF and playoffs, generally. The thing I notice from the video is that he didn't seem to let coverage keep him from throwing the pass. I'm sure it bit him a lot, too, but I'll bet a lot of his success was due to the defense thinking they had receivers covered.

Dan always thought he could complete the pass...regardless of the coverage. He had the arm for it, and that's one thing that made him so successful. I remember numerous completions between defenders, often for TDs, where I know most QBs would NEVER attempt that throw...but Dan completed it!!

berkeley223 Wrote:
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> man we were spoiled back then . I remember
> watching these plays when they happened at the
> time and just expecting them as part of normal qb
> play.

Yes indeed. Csonka spoiled me as a running back, then Dan did spoiled me as a quarterback.

I expected a solid gain whenever Zonk got handed the ball. I expected a needle-threaded pass on a rope or a completed Bomb whenever Dan received the snap.

Neither guy disappointed.

Of special note in that highlight reel was Marino's footwork. Notice how many times he sidesteps a pass rusher then fires the completion.

JC Wrote:
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> Of special note in that highlight reel was
> Marino's footwork. Notice how many times he
> sidesteps a pass rusher then fires the completion.

Yes. Dan's footwork was impeccable. The fact that he was rarely sacked was only partly due to his O-Line. Dan had a lot to do with that. Also, he was so in-sync with his O-Line, that even when things DID start to break down, Dan usually found a way out of it.

montequi Wrote:
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>
> Yes. Dan's footwork was impeccable. The fact
> that he was rarely sacked was only partly due to
> his O-Line. Dan had a lot to do with that. Also,
> he was so in-sync with his O-Line, that even when
> things DID start to break down, Dan usually found
> a way out of it.

To Dan, a yard of room might as well have been an acre. That side-step, often with just a tiny stiff arm was about as good as Elway's feet. Get him out of the pocket and he was a turtle, but in the pocket he was the most mobile QB in the history of the game.

You can probably compare Dan's footwork to a prize-fighter. So, Dan was the Muhammad Ali of QBs

Aside from the perfect throws shown in this video, his footwork was the first thing I noticed. To watch someone as SLOW as Dan elude those D-linemen like he did is something you don't see alot of these days.