Dan Marino eclipsed long-standing TD record 40 years ago
General
Published on : 12/2/2024
By Ryan Michael
Special to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
(Editor’s note: This article is the latest in an ongoing series looking at quarterbacks’ achievements that have aged well over the past 80 NFL seasons.)
After the Miami Dolphins took DAN MARINO with the 27th overall selection in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft, the future was still uncertain in South Florida. The Dolphins were defending conference champions, but they hadn’t seen elite play at the quarterback position since BOB GRIESE retired after the 1980 season.
They hoped they had found his long-term successor.
Marino was the sixth quarterback taken after JOHN ELWAY (Colts, traded to Broncos), Todd Blackledge (Chiefs), JIM KELLY (Bills), Tony Eason (Patriots) and Ken O’Brien (Jets).
Any doubts that existed about Marino prior to the draft evaporated quickly. After he took over the starting role in Week 6 vs. the Buffalo Bills, the rocket arm from Pittsburgh went on to lead the Dolphins to the postseason.
As a rookie, Marino led the AFC in passer rating (96.0) and led the NFL in adjusted net yards per passing attempt (7.39) and sack-percentage (3.27%), earning second-team All-Pro honors and his first of nine career Pro Bowl selections.
At 22 years of age, Marino already was playing the position at an elite level.
Given the history of sophomore quarterbacks struggling to execute against opposing defenses that gather more and more film to study, chatter began in the summer of 1984: Would Marino crash back down to earth or take another step toward the top of the mountain?
No expectation, however optimistic, could have ever prepared the NFL for what would come next.
In the season opener against the Washington Redskins, Marino completed 21 of 28 passes (75.0%) for 311 yards, five touchdowns, zero interceptions, zero sacks and a 150.4 passer rating.
It was only the beginning.
He threw multiple touchdown passes in 15 of 16 games, three or more touchdown passes in 10 games and four or more touchdown passes in a game six times.
DAN FOUTS’ single-season record of 4,802 passing yards from 1981? Broken by 282 yards as Marino finished the season with 5,084. Fitting for the year of 1984.
Y.A. TITTLE’S single-season record 36 touchdown passes from 1963? Matched in 13 games, with the record-breaking TD pass coming early in the Week 14 game against the Raiders on Dec. 2, 1984. Marino would tack on another 11 to end the season with the hallowed mark of 48.
Marino was named a first-team All-Pro selection at quarterback and the National Football League’s Most Valuable Player.
A dominant three-touchdown passing performance gave the Dolphins a convincing 31-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks in the divisional round of the playoffs. Marino’s 421-yard, four-touchdown effort against his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game lifted Miami to a 45-28 victory, granting them a birth in Super Bowl XIX.
Against the 49ers’ No. 1 ranked defense, Marino set a Super Bowl record with 29 pass completions. He tied TERRY BRADSHAW'S Super Bowl record of 318 passing yards, only to see fellow future Hall of Fame quarterback JOE MONTANA put up 331 yards on the other side of the ball.
A 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter morphed into a 28-16 deficit at halftime. Marino and the Dolphins’ offense were shut out in the second half as Miami fell to San Francisco, 38-16.
Marino would go on to reach two more AFC Championship Games but never made it back to the Super Bowl.
At the time of his retirement, he ranked third in postseason history in passing yards (4,510), second in pass completions (385) and second in touchdown passes (32).
His postseason marks for pass completions and touchdown passes were the most in the history of the AFC.
While most people know that Marino retired ranked No. 1 in regular season pass completions (4,967), passing yards (61,361) and touchdown passes (420), they might not know he also retired second only to Johnny Unitas (34) in fourth-quarter comebacks (33) and was No. 1 in game-winning drives (47).
His 48 touchdown passes in 1984 were 12 more than the previous record holder. To put that record into perspective: the closest anyone has come to the current record — Peyton Manning’s 55 in 2013 — is Patrick Mahomes with 50 in 2018.
One would have to throw 67 to top Manning’s mark by 12. No easy task considering Dak Prescott led the NFL with 36 touchdown passes last year.
The old adage “records are meant to be broken” is as true today as it was 40 years ago. But to do so adjusted for era and with the precision Marino did in 1984?
We might have to wait another 40 years.
Ryan Michael is a sportswriter, a statistician for KOA’s “Broncos Country Tonight” and a contributor to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You can follow him on X (@theryanmichael) and on “Broncos Country Tonight”.
This article is the latest in an ongoing series highlighting noteworthy quarterback play over the past 80 seasons. Information from Pro-Football-Reference.com’s database helped make the research possible.
Special to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
(Editor’s note: This article is the latest in an ongoing series looking at quarterbacks’ achievements that have aged well over the past 80 NFL seasons.)
After the Miami Dolphins took DAN MARINO with the 27th overall selection in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft, the future was still uncertain in South Florida. The Dolphins were defending conference champions, but they hadn’t seen elite play at the quarterback position since BOB GRIESE retired after the 1980 season.
They hoped they had found his long-term successor.
Marino was the sixth quarterback taken after JOHN ELWAY (Colts, traded to Broncos), Todd Blackledge (Chiefs), JIM KELLY (Bills), Tony Eason (Patriots) and Ken O’Brien (Jets).
Any doubts that existed about Marino prior to the draft evaporated quickly. After he took over the starting role in Week 6 vs. the Buffalo Bills, the rocket arm from Pittsburgh went on to lead the Dolphins to the postseason.
As a rookie, Marino led the AFC in passer rating (96.0) and led the NFL in adjusted net yards per passing attempt (7.39) and sack-percentage (3.27%), earning second-team All-Pro honors and his first of nine career Pro Bowl selections.
At 22 years of age, Marino already was playing the position at an elite level.
Given the history of sophomore quarterbacks struggling to execute against opposing defenses that gather more and more film to study, chatter began in the summer of 1984: Would Marino crash back down to earth or take another step toward the top of the mountain?
No expectation, however optimistic, could have ever prepared the NFL for what would come next.
In the season opener against the Washington Redskins, Marino completed 21 of 28 passes (75.0%) for 311 yards, five touchdowns, zero interceptions, zero sacks and a 150.4 passer rating.
Just getting started
It was only the beginning.
He threw multiple touchdown passes in 15 of 16 games, three or more touchdown passes in 10 games and four or more touchdown passes in a game six times.
DAN FOUTS’ single-season record of 4,802 passing yards from 1981? Broken by 282 yards as Marino finished the season with 5,084. Fitting for the year of 1984.
Y.A. TITTLE’S single-season record 36 touchdown passes from 1963? Matched in 13 games, with the record-breaking TD pass coming early in the Week 14 game against the Raiders on Dec. 2, 1984. Marino would tack on another 11 to end the season with the hallowed mark of 48.
Marino was named a first-team All-Pro selection at quarterback and the National Football League’s Most Valuable Player.
A dominant three-touchdown passing performance gave the Dolphins a convincing 31-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks in the divisional round of the playoffs. Marino’s 421-yard, four-touchdown effort against his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game lifted Miami to a 45-28 victory, granting them a birth in Super Bowl XIX.
Against the 49ers’ No. 1 ranked defense, Marino set a Super Bowl record with 29 pass completions. He tied TERRY BRADSHAW'S Super Bowl record of 318 passing yards, only to see fellow future Hall of Fame quarterback JOE MONTANA put up 331 yards on the other side of the ball.
A 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter morphed into a 28-16 deficit at halftime. Marino and the Dolphins’ offense were shut out in the second half as Miami fell to San Francisco, 38-16.
Marino would go on to reach two more AFC Championship Games but never made it back to the Super Bowl.
Putting numbers in perspective
At the time of his retirement, he ranked third in postseason history in passing yards (4,510), second in pass completions (385) and second in touchdown passes (32).
His postseason marks for pass completions and touchdown passes were the most in the history of the AFC.
While most people know that Marino retired ranked No. 1 in regular season pass completions (4,967), passing yards (61,361) and touchdown passes (420), they might not know he also retired second only to Johnny Unitas (34) in fourth-quarter comebacks (33) and was No. 1 in game-winning drives (47).
His 48 touchdown passes in 1984 were 12 more than the previous record holder. To put that record into perspective: the closest anyone has come to the current record — Peyton Manning’s 55 in 2013 — is Patrick Mahomes with 50 in 2018.
One would have to throw 67 to top Manning’s mark by 12. No easy task considering Dak Prescott led the NFL with 36 touchdown passes last year.
The old adage “records are meant to be broken” is as true today as it was 40 years ago. But to do so adjusted for era and with the precision Marino did in 1984?
We might have to wait another 40 years.
Ryan Michael is a sportswriter, a statistician for KOA’s “Broncos Country Tonight” and a contributor to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You can follow him on X (@theryanmichael) and on “Broncos Country Tonight”.
This article is the latest in an ongoing series highlighting noteworthy quarterback play over the past 80 seasons. Information from Pro-Football-Reference.com’s database helped make the research possible.
More of this series
- Analysis: Charlie Conerly’s giant accomplishments hold up as eras pass
- Y.A. Tittle’s journey from San Francisco to New York
- Analysis: An appreciation of Sammy Baugh’s historic 1943 season
- Legendary seasons for Sid Luckman, Peyton Manning separated by 70 years
- Looking back at TB12’s historic 2011 season 12 years later
- Russell Wilson’s decade of dominance in Seattle remains elite
- Roger Staubach’s 1971: The greatest season you’ve never heard about
- Silver anniversary: Randall Cunningham’s solid gold season with Vikings
- 50 years since Unitas’ last pass: Some things you might not know about No. 19
- Race to the top: Brady’s battle with Brees for the NFL’s most hallowed record
- Analysis: Did Andrew Luck exceed hype or fall short?
- Silver anniversary of John’s Elway’s sterling final game
- As cold as ice: Perception of Matt Ryan’s legacy after ‘28-3’
- Cam Newton leads high-flying 2015 Carolina Panthers
- Peyton Manning’s four-year rodeo in Mile High City
- Dan Marino eclipsed long-standing TD record 40 years ago
Previous Article
Gold Jacket Spotlight: Ray Lewis, his coaches shared mutually beneficial relationships
An examination of his coaches’ impact on Ray Lewis and his influence on each of them is the focus of this week’s Gold Jacket Spotlight.
Next Article
NFL again honors John Madden during Thanksgiving games
Thanksgiving, football and John Madden are linked forever in the history of professional football.