Dan Marino wouldn’t trade the Hall of Fame for a Super Bowl ring

[LesBaker]

Every year about 5 to 7 times as many people get a SB ring as get into the HOF.

So just that alone answers the question of which has more magnitude and meaning.

@SierraRam Broadway Joe is not alone on that list!!! Lynn Swann is right there behind him!

 

[ozarkram]

I always liked Marino. He played with a fire. IMHO he played to win every game. Sometimes its just not in the cards. The film is there the records are there. He could start for me any day.

 

[drasconis]

It is kinda a loaded question also. Do you mean he drops down to a great career but not HOF worthy or do you mean he gets the ring while riding the bench? How much career does he give up for the ring?

It is difficult to say straight out which way you go until actual parameters are fully given.

my 2.5cents

 

[jrry32]

No wonder why he was such a freaking loser. You think Elway would trade the Hall for a few more Super Bowl rings? You think that even Fran freaking Tarkenton would trade the Hall for just one?

Marino is a freaking disgrace to anyone who wants to win.

I don't pretend to know what Elway would or would not do. We know what Marino would do and there's nothing wrong with having a preference. The Hall of Fame means FAR MORE individually than a Super Bowl ring.

And there's nothing wrong with him valuing that. It says he was one of the greatest players to ever play the game. A Super Bowl ring just says you were on a great team one year in your career.

I think that Marino is most definitely a great quarterback. He is not, however, a winner. Ultimately, who's going to remember Marino's accomplishments aside from Dolphins fans? Will they even care as much about his accomplishments rather than their perfect season? I doubt it. He was surpassed in everything by Peyton Manning and Brett Favre, both of whom actually won it all.

Again, he's a great quarterback. Just not one that I'd pick for a Super Bowl winning team.

Who is going to remember Marino's accomplishments? Who won't? On the flip side, who will ever remember Trent Dilfer's accomplishments? Only people that want to bring him up in a negative light.

Marino will be remembered as one of the greatest QBs to ever play the game. And not a winner? The dude carried the Dolphins on his back for over a decade and won far more games than he lost.

Favre may have surpassed Marino's records but the vast majority of football fans rank Marino over Favre all time as a QB.

You wouldn't pick a prime Dan Marino for a team you wanted to win the Super Bowl? You're nuts. The only way crazy talk like that would be excusable is if you had the choice of any QB.

 

[HometownBoy]

He's one of the best players to play the game and is immortalized forever for it. You can get a ring simply by being a scrub warming benches on a great team, Hall of Fame is all you and it shows you put your heart and soul into the game.

The Hall of Fame is the mark of a winner if you ask me.

 

[jap]

I think that Marino is most definitely a great quarterback. He is not, however, a winner. Ultimately, who's going to remember Marino's accomplishments aside from Dolphins fans? Will they even care as much about his accomplishments rather than their perfect season? I doubt it. He was surpassed in everything by Peyton Manning and Brett Favre, both of whom actually won it all.

Again, he's a great quarterback. Just not one that I'd pick for a Super Bowl winning team.

The above says more about the ignorance of fans than it does about Dan and his prodigious gifts.

Dan was victimized by his tremendous talent---just as John Elway was to a lesser extent earlier in his career. Dan was so damn good his coaches thought he could win it all without an effective running game. He would consistently lead his team to the playoffs, but, upon encountering the cream-of-the-crop teams who usually employed the very best defenses, he would come up short. A solid ground attack would have prevented those top defenses from teeing off on Dan and ruining the Dolphins' schemes.

In fact, things got worse because Dan went so long without a ground game that, as time wound on, he came to depend solely on his big arm and distrust his RB's in big moments. So he effectively became somewhat predictable in crunch-time situations as his career started coming to a close, making it easier for top defenses to defend against him.

Similarly, Elway could not win the big one until he was bailed out by superlative tailback, Terrell Davis.

Football is a team sport much more so than any other sport. You need 22 offensive/defensive players---to say nothing of special teammers. To expect one man to carry a team all the way without significant help against the better NFL defensive teams is crazy thinking. Nevertheless, Dan's coaches, Don Shula & Co., appeared to be that mesmerized with his talent that they expected him to do it all without effective ground troops. Dan's failure to win the big one should stand forever as an object lesson to every head coach and GM that one guy cannot do it all alone.

 

[A.J. Hicks]

He'd feel differently had he won a Super Bowl. However, I can see where he is coming from. . .

 

[blue4]

The thought that Marino is a selfish loser because of that statement is a little silly, IMO. He was the best QB I've ever seen hampered by usually average teams. I'd trade a SB ring for a HOF spot too. Wasn't it Jeff Hostetler who got a ring because Norwood choked a kick?

 

[SierraRam]

Tedy Bruschi shot back that a ring is the greater accomplishment.

You're right Tedy, but how many of your 3 rings were 'accomplished' rather than stolen?

 

[Mackeyser]

I think that Marino is most definitely a great quarterback. He is not, however, a winner. Ultimately, who's going to remember Marino's accomplishments aside from Dolphins fans? Will they even care as much about his accomplishments rather than their perfect season? I doubt it. He was surpassed in everything by Peyton Manning and Brett Favre, both of whom actually won it all.

Again, he's a great quarterback. Just not one that I'd pick for a Super Bowl winning team.

I'm sorry, but I respectfully have to disagree. Marino threw for 5,000 yds IN THE 80s!!! In 1984, they'd only just stopped allowing DBs from using pistols to hold up WRs, fer cryin out loud. A REALLY good season by a QB back then was 3000 yds. 5000 yds was considered unbreakable and may have been had there not been an avalanche of rule changes in favor of the passing game.

He should have won at least one Super Bowl, but his D let down big time. Several years, actually if Marino had a D, he'd have had a shot.

And I'm sorry, I can't give Trent Dilfer more credit than Dan Marino as a "winner". As for Elway, he's ringless without Terrell Davis and a much improved D. So, Elway got his at the end by NOT being the focus. When could that ever be said for Marino and the Dolphins?

I think Marino takes the jacket not because he didn't leave everything on the field, but because he knows winning a Super Bowl is as much luck as it is execution and preparation. Getting to the HoF isn't luck. Plus, as others have mentioned, he's in the Hall, so it makes sense that he would close the hall. It validates his career. Otherwise, without any SB wins, according to some(not you, but I've read some real Marino haters, I guess I should call them "Finkles"), his career is meaningless and he wasted his time and may as well time travelled from Pitt to doing NutriSlim commercials.

I just try and remember that Marino was gaudy, when gaudy wasn't cool. (Shout out to Barbara Mandrell)

 

[Prime Time]

A player just beginning his career would sound selfish if he said his goal is to get into the Hall of Fame and that winning a Super Bowl is secondary. That would imply that his career stats are more important than what his team accomplishes.

But a player can say that once his career is over. He did what he could and his stats back him up but a Super Bowl title was not meant to be. For whatever reason things didn't work out.

I wonder how Jim Kelly feels about this with his team's four losses in the Super Bowl? "Kelly finished his 11 NFL seasons with 2,874 completions in 4,779 attempts for 35,467 yards and 237 touchdowns, with 175 interceptions, all of which are Buffalo records. He also rushed for 1,049 yards and seven touchdowns.

In his four Super Bowls, Kelly completed 81 of 145 passes for 829 yards and two touchdowns, with seven interceptions."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Kelly#Records_and_accomplishments

 

[dieterbrock]

Would you rather have Trent Dilfer's career (and ring) over Marino's?
Heck no

 

[wmc540]

I would trade my second superbowl ring for a spot in the hall, but not the first. Missing that ring will always haunt you as an elite player.

 

[DaveFan'51]

How many good, average & below average players have rings? Hundreds

How many are in the HOF? 1 - Joe Namath

Besides, Dan can pick up a ring from a fromer 49er anytime on Craig's list

Well stated!! There are a lot of GREAT Players that Never got a Ring!! Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen to name just two!!

 

[Angry Ram]

I would trade my second superbowl ring for a spot in the hall, but not the first. Missing that ring will always haunt you as an elite player.

Meh, dude is a HoFer and has a comfy tv gig to boot. Think he'll survive.

 

[wmc540]

Meh, dude is a HoFer and has a comfy tv gig to boot. Think he'll survive.

Sorry, I should have said elite competitors. Dan Marino isn't one of them seeing as he made the original statement, so I have no doubt in my mind that he is completely fine.

 

[Akrasian]

Anybody who watched Marino during his playing career should know that he competed as hard as possible from his first NFL pass to his last. He carried otherwise poor teams to the playoffs. He did as much as any QB could have done. Just because he's not haunted after retirement with not winning something that was out of his control does not mean he was not an elite competitor during his career. It means that after retirement he has had a healthy mindset, and focuses on how he played fantastic, did all he could to win, and now has a great post-playing career. Kudos to him.

 

[HometownBoy]

Sorry, I should have said elite competitors. Dan Marino isn't one of them seeing as he made the original statement, so I have no doubt in my mind that he is completely fine.

Please, Marino is in the hall of fame. He's one of the best in the biz, saying he's not an elite competitor because he's not fawning over a ring is ridiculous. He put himself above the rest and is one of the best damn QBs in the world and he's a loser because he doesn't care about a ring the Dolphins never really tried to help to get anyways? Do you know how many scrubs are in ownership of a super bowl ring simply because they warmed a bench real well or grabbed Gatorade really good? Now compare that to the amount of scrubs in the hall of fame with records and accolades galore.

A ring is a team achievement, being a HOFer is all you, you work hard for it, you put in the work to put yourself above the rest and how anybody can say that makes you a loser is beyond me.

I don't see what's so obscene about rather having one of the greatest personal, individual accolades of a craft you love to your name rather than a piece of metal and the knowledge that people use it to pretend like you're better than the other guys who got you there.

 

[LACHAMP46]

Everybody has said it well...Marino IS NOT the reason the Dolphins haven't won a SB since the 70's...He did all he could. Management has to hold that in their hands...They never put a competent team around him...Decent, but not solid enough. He has nothing to regret, he did his best.

I think that Marino is most definitely a great quarterback. He is not, however, a winner. Ultimately, who's going to remember Marino's accomplishments aside from Dolphins fans? Will they even care as much about his accomplishments rather than their perfect season? I doubt it. He was surpassed in everything by Peyton Manning and Brett Favre, both of whom actually won it all.

Again, he's a great quarterback. Just not one that I'd pick for a Super Bowl winning team.

Best QB to ever play the game, you can have Montana, Elway, Staubach, Rodgers (whew, this ones close), or Brady...Marino can out throw them all...Ultimate competitor..Carried teams...

Umm, everyone will remember his accomplishments. He's a legend of the sport. He'll be remembered forever. How many people will remember that Joe Germaine has a SB ring?

I was gonna add Trent Dilfer, for some reason a bunch of guys remembered him enough to add him in here...I'll add another, Brad Johnson....Did Cordell Stewart win a superbowl? Legend..I like that, I'll use that V3....

 

[HometownBoy]

I was gonna add Trent Dilfer, for some reason a bunch of guys remembered him enough to add him in here...I'll add another, Brad Johnson....Did Cordell Stewart win a superbowl? Legend..I like that, I'll use that V3....

I'll add some names to the fire.

Tony Banks, Jimmy Kennedy. Almost every scrub who stole a ring with the Pats.

All these guys have more fire and drive than the likes of Merlin Brock, Deacon Jones and Eric Dickerson right?