Miami Dolphins: 10 best games of Dan Marino’s career
With so much quarterback talk around the Miami Dolphins, we take a look back at the best-to-ever play the position for the franchise.
We have reached the dead point in the Miami Dolphins offseason. We still have a few weeks to go until training camp begins, while the free agency and the draft feel like they happened longer than 3 months ago.
There is no better time than now to take our walks down memory lane or open up the history vault. With all of the quarterback talk in Miami lately, I can’t help but remember Dan Marino and the glory that he brought to the Dolphins franchise and the fan base.
Perhaps the greatest pure passer ever, Marino’s lack of a Super Bowl win will hurt his legacy for as long as people remember him. But that didn’t take away from the record-breaking skill that he possessed, and he had some of the finest games that a quarterback has ever played.
Here are the ten best single-game performances by Dan Marino over the course of his career:
#10: December 2nd, 1984 vs. Raiders
35 of 57/ 470 yards/ 4TD/ 2INT/ 96.4 rating
It was one of only two losses on the season for the 1984 Miami Dolphins, and the defense deserves much of the blame for not being able to stop Marcus Allen and the Raiders’ rushing attack. But it was one of Marino’s finest games in what was his finest season and was the third-highest yard total of his career.
#9: September 21st, 1986 @ Jets
30 of 50/ 448 yards/ 6TD/ 2INT/ 112.3 rating
Marino’s career-high six-touchdown game came in 1986 in an early-season matchup with the New York Jets, but the game resulted in a loss and doesn’t rank in the top 40 of his best QB rating games. His 448 yards were actually less than Ken O’Brien’s 479 for the Jets, and his two interceptions proved costly as the Dolphins fell in overtime.
But it was one of the most underrated quarterback duels of all time and was one of the best games of Marino’s career.