My rant of the day - Esiason over Marino in the NFL team of the 80's???

gregm13

Before today, I never paid attention to the team of the decade selections beyond the first team. Looking at the expanded list today, I am speechless that Dan Marino didn't make the NFL Team of the Decade for the 1980's!!!??? I then downloaded their stats, and have summarized below:

Year G Comp Att Pct Yard Y/A TD Int Att Yard Td Pro Bowl
Marino 1980's 103 2174 3650 59.6% 27853 7.6 220 125 140 -18 5 5
Esiason 1980's 85 1296 2285 56.7% 18350 8.0 126 76 238 1055 5 3
Edge Marino Marino Marino Marino Marino Esiason Marino Esiason Esiason Esiason Tied Marino

How in the name of god was Esiason voted in over Marino? On top of the stats, one has to remember that Marino had arguably the best singe season of anyone ever in any sport by breaking 2 hallowed records; yards w/ 5084 (I believe breaking Fouts record of around 4800) and TD's w/ 48. When Marino broke the TD record in 1984 w/ 48, the previous record was 36 which had stood for over 20 years if I'm correct (I think the record was held by 2 players....George Blanda and....maybe YA Tittle??) and Marino's 48 blew away the record by 33%!! That would be comparable to someone breaking Roger's Maris's home run (which stood for 30+ years) record of 61 by hitting over 80 home runs. Yet Marino still wasn't given his due.

Esiason was a great QB in his own right, but I never could figure out why Marino always seemed to be snubbed. I still remember a pre-season football magazine back in 1994 that ranked Marino as somewhere between the 10th and 15th best QB in football at the time and said that Marino had "one good year". Give me a break.

Sorry for the rant, but it really struck a cord w/ me.

Greg M.

CDC4

How does Art Monk make the all decade team voted by the HOF committee and yet he's not in the HOF?


Makes a lot of sense.

JasP24

There are plenty of guys on the All-Decade Teams that aren't HOF guys..Especially in the 80's and 90's where the number of teams and players was much larger than the 50's and 60's...

The 2 QBs officially chosen for the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team are Joe Montana and Dan Fouts...I know what Wikipedia says, and yes Esiason would have been the 3rd QB over Marino had there been 3 QBs chosen, but officially only Montana and Fouts get credit.

What hurt Marino is what always hurt Marino is that he never won the big one...He was always considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest pure passer in NFL History. But if you are ranking the greatest QB's (total package) he slips down the list a bit..Not sure how Esiason got more votes other than they had just come off a last minute Super Bowl loss in Jan of 1989 and Esiason was getting alot of accolades at the time. Here's a recent article on the 100 Greatest QBs of the modern era (1950-present) using some type of statistical analysis and they've got Marino at #4. He'd be higher (#3) if he could have won more in the playoffs..

100 Greatest QBs

Personally I'd rank him behind Elway and Peyton Manning, but obviously neither has Marino's stats but could do many other things (Elway= scramble/run/4th qtr comebacks) (Manning=calls own plays) better than Marino.

Jason

FavreFan1971

Yeah, Marino deserves to be on.

Look at the team of the 90's. Elway over a three time MVP of Favre? What the heck is up with that.

FavreFan1971

Great article Jason. Glad to see Lynn Dickey made an apprearance at 95.

drewsef

what a completely foolish article in my opinion, hmm lets see:

Jeff George over Blanda and so many better QB's
Brad Johnson over Tom Brady, and Tom Brady is the 54th best QB ever? friggin ridiculous
Troy Aikman, Joe Namath, and Jim Kelly just slightly higher than Rich Gannon? and Gannon is higher than Ken Stabler
Mark Brunell over Bobby Layne, Namath, Kelly, and Aikman, a pure joke
Ken Anderson at #7 is a joke by itself Let's see, Ken Anderson or Bart Starr, Dan Fouts, Peyton Manning, Len Dawson, Brett Favre, or Roger Staubach. I can't think of a single instance where I would take Ken Anderson over those guys.

JasP24

If you read closely it tells you that the rankings are primarily statistical based. QBs more than any other position are as important for their intangibles as they are for what they can do statistically.

Jason

drewsef

so Ken Anderson has better stats than Favre?

JasP24

Taking INTs into account I guess so....lol

I don't know man, read "The Method" and it tells you how they came up with the formula for these stats..Not my method, I had seen this article and thought it was relevant to the discussion. All stats listed are "normalized" to the 2006 season...I like how it shows what Unitas's stats would have looked if he were playing in 2006. His 1957 season equated to 4,500 yard, 40 TD season in 2006.

Jason

CDsNuts

It's funny how perceptions change as time goes by. At the end of the 80s, there were probably arguments for Marino, but the Boomer pick didn't really seem that ridiculous or at least nearly as much as it does now. Some players' "Legend" grows over time while others' shrink. I can't think of someone who fell off the map faster after that decade than Eric Dickerson, but Boomer and Kosar would be a close 2nd and 3rd.

JasP24

<< <i>It's funny how perceptions change as time goes by. At the end of the 80s, there were probably arguments for Marino, but the Boomer pick didn't really seem that ridiculous or at least nearly as much as it does now. Some players' "Legend" grows over time while others' shrink. I can't think of someone who fell off the map faster after that decade than Eric Dickerson, but Boomer and Kosar would be a close 2nd and 3rd. >>



Good point...I think its human nature for the voters to give more credence to guys who were hot at the time they were voting. In 1990, Boomer was the hot guy.

This is why the HOF committee puts alot of weight into the Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections. Because those were made during/at the conclusion of THAT particular season. There's really no better way for anyone to look back and know who was truly the best from 50 years ago.

Jason

hobart4281

Very interesting article.....I found the following statement to hold so much truth I thought I'd share it for those who may have missed it

Had he played the same number of adjusted games as Tarkenton (assuming he would maintain his PAR/G rate), Staubach would rank as the most valuable QB of all time. He is also one of those rare Heisman Trophy winners to become an all-time great at the NFL level, which should count for something.

gregm13

<< <i>

<< <i>It's funny how perceptions change as time goes by. At the end of the 80s, there were probably arguments for Marino, but the Boomer pick didn't really seem that ridiculous or at least nearly as much as it does now. Some players' "Legend" grows over time while others' shrink. I can't think of someone who fell off the map faster after that decade than Eric Dickerson, but Boomer and Kosar would be a close 2nd and 3rd. >>



Good point...I think its human nature for the voters to give more credence to guys who were hot at the time they were voting. In 1990, Boomer was the hot guy.

This is why the HOF committee puts alot of weight into the Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections. Because those were made during/at the conclusion of THAT particular season. There's really no better way for anyone to look back and know who was truly the best from 50 years ago.

Jason >>



Jason,

You have a point. Marino had cooled down b/t 1988 and 1990....as the Dolphins had their first losing season in years and he wasn't voted to the Pro Bowl again until 1991. That could explain part of it...although Marino still did demolish most passing records during the 1980's. It still makes no sense as in 18 more games, Marino had 9553 more yards and 94 more TD's which equals nearly 531 yards and over 5 TD's per game. Plus they each had one SB appearance and lost to the 49ers.

Greg M.

cardbender

Marino actually tied the single season TD mark if you factor in games played. He had 48 in 16 games for 3.0 per game average.

Blanda's was in a 14 game season but he only played 12 games that year. So his 36 TD's in 12 games average to 3.0 per game too so they actually tie.

Although I'm sure many of Blanda's were against rag tag defenses in the early AFL days.

I'm more impressed by Daryle Lamonica's two years of over 30 TD's in the late sixties.

Or Tittle's back to back 33 and 36 TD years in 1962 and '63 during the heyday era of the NFL when competition was at it's peak in my opinion. Plus with the older rules were in play too. DB's could drill the heck out of end's and flankers with no fear of penalty.

I think Luckman had 28 TD's in 10 games played in the early 1940's, for a remarkable 2.8 per game average considering in was done in a more running the ball era and with different rules in play that didn't favor the forward pass much.

Unitas passing for 32 TD's in 14 games is impressive too in the late fifties.

CDsNuts

How about these 3 consecutive years for Kurt Warner:

4353 yds 41 TD
3429 yds 21 TD
4830 yds 36 TD

Granted Mike Martz runs an offense like a crazy person, but still.....