With Patrick Mahomes’ latest Super Bowl win, the NFL GOAT quarterback conversation (in commercial realms) has been reduced to two quarterbacks: Tom Brady and Mahomes. Anyone who put in work prior to the 2000s is pretty much placed on the outside of the conversation by today’s young generation of sports fans.
Miami Dolphins icon Dan Marino, an old school candidate for that honor, was recently asked to give his Mt. Rushmore of quarterbacks, and the first guy in NFL history to throw for 5,000 yards in a season decided to respect the ’80s and ’90s originators with his choices.
Marino Says Give Me Old School QB Play
To many that may be surprising, but it really shouldn’t be because Marino played in an era where you could really kill the quarterback and the defense had a much bigger advantage than now, where the rules have changed to benefit open offenses, quarterbacks and receivers.
So, while GOAT QB arguments make for great debate and can fill up a sports show, it’s all still so subjective.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Marino, who’s arguably the most gifted passer of the football ever, said this about his four choices.
“I gotta go back to the guys I played against, I always loved Joe Namath, I always loved Terry Bradshaw, but to me Joe Montana, and John Elway, Jim Kelly … Patrick Mahomes he’s gotta be considered one of the best to ever to ever, too, and you got Tom Brady, a lot of guys.”
Marino Refused To Put Himself On Mt. Rushmore With Joe Montana, John Elway and Jim Kelly
If you notice Marino didn’t include himself, he sounds as if he’ll let everyone make that choice. He instead tells us to decide between Brady, Mahomes or someone else.
Either way, his list is his list, but in most folks court of public opinion there’s no way you can have a Mount Rushmore without Brady, who’s won seven Super Bowls and owns every QB record known to man. As for Mahomes, he’s only 28 with three Super Bowl wins, three Super Bowl MVPs and two MVPs, accomplishing something no QB ever did before the age of 30. So, the choice wouldn’t be an easy one at all.
NFL Rule Changes Make It Difficult To Pick Four
The rule changes that went from allowing you to beat the hell out of the quarterback previously to now not being able to breathe on them the last 20 years or so makes it a tad bit difficult to decipher who should make the legendary list. But, if we’re going off winning, talent and pure natural abilities it’s definitely Brady, Montana, Marino and now Mahomes.
While, Marino may not have the hardware the other three have, no one threw a better ball. Marino was also shortchanged by his team often, as during his 17-year NFL career the gunslinger only had one 1000-yard running back, which made it difficult to win in his era when teams ran the football 55-58 percent of the time.
Yet somehow his teams still went 147-95. That was all Marino and not much else down in South Beach.
