The Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs have played some memorable games in Miami. I hope that we can hang in there on Sunday. Pray for rain and sleet and snow. Just some quick thoughts on those games going off my memory and some rudimentary fact checking.
1993: The Marino Achilles tendon blowout year, I can remember my friend pointing at the TV as Marino limped off the field in Cleveland “That’s an Achilles tear. He’s done for the year.” I pretended that I didn’t hear it. To quote Marlon Brando
in Apocalypse Now “The Horror!” We tried to move on with our backups and the Phins played doggone well and when KC rolled into town with Dave Krieg and the loudmouth bozo Harvey Williams (recently from LSU). I was worried we would lose but Scott Mitchell played a heck of a game (we won 30-10) and Bryan Cox knocked out Harvey Williams (much to my approval).
1991: The home playoff game victory (remember those???) (we won 17-16)where we came back from a thirteen-point deficit. Marino hit Clayton with a 12-yard pass to pull us ahead. I had “upgraded” my season ticket seats for this playoff game to the lower deck and I faced the goal posts “edge on.” More on that in a moment; the Chiefs had a great follow-up drive and they had the “Nigerian Nightmare” charging down to the 25-yard line with the great kicker Nick Lowery ready to end us. I was already preparing myself for the approaching negative doom energy. But wait! There was a flag on the Chiefs for holding and they had to settle for a 50-yard field goal by Nick Lowery. When the kick went up, it had the leg and from my vantage point it was going to be good. But wait! As I looked to my left in the end zone, I saw the Phins’ fans making the “no good” signal. They were directly behind the goal posts. Again, the doom wave dissipated. We squeaked by on that one. One more side note on that game; Pete Stoyanovich made a 58-yard field goal which is a playoff record that still stands (it has been equaled however).
1994. Miami beats KC 27-17. I was at this game as well and this time took some photos that I have attached. It was the final time Marino would play Montana and Dan came out on top that day.
For those of you my age, knowing that we had Daniel Constantine Marino, on our side gave me such comfort. It is hard to explain. In 1997 or 1998, I knew it was coming to an end and a sense of dread came over me and hasn’t left since then. I thought Tua was the answer (I can hope can’t I?) but I had some Bama friends who assured me that he had numerous flaws. He did but Tua is/was special just fragile and football is a violent game. Malik is a big strong man. I like him but I am curious and I throw this open (as if you all needed my permission to respond?); right now before we play KC, if you had to decide to pick a player in next year’s draft, are you picking a QB? It doesn’t matter right now who the QB would be, just is that where we should go? Once you’ve made that decision, keep it in your heart every week to tweak that feeling. We had seventeen years of Marino; picking the right guy could buy us seventeen comforting years. On this team right now, how many non-QB players will be here in 5 years? I say between six to ten. I hope I am wrong. Soon I will write how a GOAT level QB stunts the LONG-TERM development of a team. That said, a GOAT level QB is 100% essential to winning a Super Bowl in this era. Keep in mind, that GOAT level QB may or may not beat a GOAT level on every system. Coach Shula transitioned from a run- oriented offense with David Woodley and Andra Franklin (went to the Super Bowl) to a pass-oriented offense with Dan Marino and the Marks Brothers(went to the Super Bowl) in less than five years. Coach Shula is our GOAT coach and always will be.
