Dolphins legend Dan Marino on his greatest win over Steelers team that passed on him in 1983 NFL Draft

Dan Marino never won a Super Bowl, but the Miami Dolphins legend and Hall of Fame quarterback did win an AFC title against his childhood team — the Pittsburgh Steelers — who immediately regretted not selected him in the previous year’s NFL Draft. 

In fact, many Steelers fans of a certain age (including the father of this story’s author) still haven’t gotten over the fact that Pittsburgh passed on Marino, who in the 1984 AFC Championship threw for 421 yards and four touchdowns while leading the Dolphins to a 45-28 win.  

“Tell him not to let it go,” a smiling Marino said in a one-on-one interview with CBS Sports when told of the still-upset Steelers fan who has never forgiven his team for passing on Marino. 

Marino, who also starred at the University of Pittsburgh, doesn’t hide the fact that facing the Steelers added a special element to what was already a massive game. After a record-setting 1984 season that saw him set then-NFL single season marks with 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns, Marino essentially closed the door for good on the Steelers’ 1970s dynasty. That was that final playoff game for several pillars of Pittsburgh’s major players from those teams. 

“Well, that’s a pretty cool one because we were playing Pittsburgh, and I grew up there,” Marino said. “It was pretty special to play them. Donnie Shell was still playing, who is a Hall of Famer. Jack Lambert’s a Hall of Famer. They were in that game. 

“As a kid, I grew up watching them. To be able to beat them in the Orange Bowl and then go on to the Super Bowl was, for me as a 22-year-old kid, it was really cool.” 

Many expected Marino to have to match wits that day with fellow draft class member John Elway and the Denver Broncos. But Elway and Co. were upset by Chuck Noll’s Steelers in the divisional round a week earlier after Pittsburgh’s defense picked off Elway twice, sacked him four times and held him to 184 yards…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/dolphins-legend-dan-marino-on-his-greatest-win-over-steelers-team-that-passed-on-him-in-1983-nfl-draft/

Author : Bryan DeArdo

Publish date : 2024-01-23 22:11:13

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