John Elway

Marino stumbling to the finish line and that God-awful finale against the Jags in the playoffs are still hurting Marino today. Not to mention that the game has changed to the point that many people forget how amazing his numbers were at the time early in his career.

 

You know the Broncos went to five Super Bowls, right?
Five.
FIVE. Three in a row and back to back.
For several years they were among the top teams in the NFL and the class of AFC.
That usually doesn't happen because Superman is lining up behind the center.

Marino didn't have Elway's elusiveness, but he had a trigger release on that cannon. Try giving Marino half of the running backs Elway had and a defense and see how Super Bowls he makes.
As noted already, Marino's annual passing numbers were stratospheric. That's saying something given he proceeded the Fouts/Air-Coryell Era.

A great QB is not going to take a team to two Super Bowls, muchless five, without some help. Elway's teams had a lot of things Marino's Dolphins lacked.

 

I'm sure Marino would be right up there with Montana if he had Sammy Winder and Steve Sewell in his backfield. Also, he'll probably never admit it, but I bet Marino wishes he didn't get dragged down by those stiffs Duper and Clayton and instead could have thrown passes to studs like Ricky Nattiel and Vance Johnson.

 

He might have been able to keep pace if he wasn't counting on Bernie Parmalee, Karim Abdul-Jabbar, Sammie Smith and Mark Higgs to run the ball.
If only Marino had a good running scheme or run-blockers, or backs. How many times did Bronco RBs lead the league in rushing? That's prolly not a coincidence coupled with their Super Bowl appearances.

 

John Elway and the 1986 Denver Broncos take the field.

 

Elway ruined enough Sundays of my youth for me to begrudgingly acknowledge and appreciate his greatness.

 

He was great. One of the best ever, no question.

But the idea he took the football equivalent of the Three Stooges, Our Gang and Steve Urkel to five Super Bowls is laughable.

He had coaches who built him a sound - if not great - running game, and a solid defense.
I think its a testament to the Broncos coaches and O-line that thery could plug in a RB and lead the league in rush yardage. That's a hell of luxury for a any QB to have, muchless on of Elway's talents.


WTF did Shula do? He rode Marino as far as he could. Yeah, he had Duper and Clayton. And no running game. Ever.
Who did Marino have the latter half of his career? OJ McDuffie.

The Broncos played in a pretty tough division.
Miami ? Not so much, outside of the Bills Dynasty, Marino and the Dolphins had the run of the division. But, they played a few cold weather matchups, where a running game would have really helped.


Anyway ...

 

In the '80s, Marino was almost unanimously considered by people INSIDE the NFL as better than Elway. But then Marino started to pile up injuries, and Elway kept on going, and perceptions changed. I'd take either one, myself.

 

Wasn't three in a row, the Dan Reeves era SBs were 3 in 4 years. Bengals in '88 broke the string.

 

The legend of the bad Broncos teams doesn't always meet reality.

For example, the 1989 team had the number one scoring defense and were third in yards. The 1987 team was 7 and 9 in those categories and the 1986 teams was 15 and 9.

 

What originally looked like Marino's blessing turned out to be his curse: being drafted by one of the league's most experienced (ie. oldest) and best teams at the time (83).

Worked out great the first couple years (going 14-2 and reaching the Super Bowl his second season), but then all those old guys went over the hill at once, and the Dolphins were left re-building from scraps when Marino hit his prime.

I know stats can be misleading, but it's worth pointing out that there's no doubt which guy the passing numbers say is better. Marino clearly has the superior statistical resume, and in a few categories I dare say it's really not even close:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MariDa00.htm
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/E/ElwaJo00.htm

The only significant distinguisher Elway has over Marino is the rings, which he did not win until his final two seasons on loaded teams on which he really wasn't even the top offensive performer (remember Terrelle Davis, merely the League MVP in 98). Yet for that reason only Elway now seems to get universally ranked ahead of Marino. Nevermind that if you flipped the rosters the ring count would likely also be reversed.

 

The Broncos' defensive front during those Super Bowl runs was comparatively a joke.
They were easy to push around even by the middling teams and were.
Dumb thread.