When Joe Montana retired, he was widely regarded as the greatest quarterback in NFL history. Montana has since been surpassed, in the opinion of most NFL observers, by Tom Brady. But Montana says neither he nor Brady is the greatest.
Montana says Dan Marino is the best quarterback in NFL history.
Why would Marino, who retired without a Super Bowl ring, over four-time Montana champ or seven-time champ Brady? In Montana’s view, Marino deserves the nod for setting modern passing numbers in an era when the sport didn’t evolve to make passing as easy as it is now.
In Marino’s greatest season, 1984, he passed for 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns. Those numbers are comparable to last season’s MVP Patrick Mahomes’ stats (5,250 yards and 41 touchdowns), and Mahomes had the 17th game and a friendlier environment to play as a quarterback, thanks to years of rules and strategy. Changes in favor of the midfielders.
“Put Marino in today’s match Where he gets a free release. . . “His receivers, holy cow, weren’t very big,” Montana said. Men’s health. “Now these guys are 6’4″ and 6’5.” I suspect [Marino] He is perhaps one of the most unsung heroes in the game. People don’t talk about him enough or realize the numbers he put up during the times he did.
Montana says Marino can throw the football in a way other quarterbacks can’t.
“He had a quick release. I had to go through a lot of things to get enough.” [force] “On the ball,” Montana said of Marino. “He had perfect torque in his upper body and strength to deliver the ball quickly and accurately.”
Choosing the best midfielder of all time is very much a personal exercise. No one can know what Marino’s numbers would look like in the more offensively favorable environment Brady played in, or how much more Marino could have done throwing Jerry Rice into Bill Walsh’s offense the way Montana did. But Marino certainly deserves to be in the conversation of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, and it’s Montana’s credit that he put Marino there.
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