There must be two separate Dan Marinos. That is the only possible explanation for how a countdown of the top-100 greatest game changers in NFL history could have the name ‘Dan Marino’ slotted as low as 41st, right?
The league’s countdown, a part of their celebration of 100 years of the National Football League, is a wonderful idea and provides a unique turn on looking back over the history of great players to play in the league. But Dan Marino ranking 41st only makes sense if you disregard the criteria: biggest game changers.
Dan Marino currently ranks 5th all-time in 4th quarter comebacks in NFL history with 33. The four names situated ahead of him on the list include three modern passers who only started playing at the turn of the millennium (Manning, Brady and Brees), plus another transcendent talent — Johnny Unitas.
Some of the names listed ahead of Marino in the NFL’s rankings? Dr. James Andrews and Astroturf. The last anyone checked, Astroturf wasn’t throwing for 5,000 yards in a season back in 1984 — a full 25 years before anyone else eclipsed that mark. We don’t recall Astroturf holding the NFL’s single season passing touchdown record for twenty years, do you?
The unfortunate reality with Marino is that while he’ll always be widely regarded as a great quarterback, his legacy will forever be tarnished by the lack of a championship. Never mind the fact that he put up statistics that didn’t become replicated for two decades and didn’t become commonplace until three decades later.
In a league full of game changers, Marino was a man out of time — his style of play in the 1980s helped mold the direction of the NFL into what it is today. And that kind of legacy, with or without a Lombardi, should probably rank a whole lot higher than 41st on the list.
