How Elite Were They? #48- Dan Marino’s 14-win 1984 Season

Originally published on Jan. 9, 2025

By Zane Miller

After being drafted with the 27^th overall pick on the 1983 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins, quarterback Dan Marino took the starting job midway through his rookie season (replacing David Woodley) and helped the team to an AFC East title. Despite clearly hitting the ground running, the Dolphins did not go far in the playoffs, losing 27-20 to the Seattle Seahawks in the second round after reaching the Super Bowl the year before. Despite missing half of the season, Marino was named as a second-team All-Pro and finished third in the MVP race. Now firmly in control of the starting quarterback spot, Marino was ready to revolutionize the position in his sophomore season.

Marino started off the 1984 season with a bang, as he and the Dolphins took down the Washington Redskins (now Washington Commanders) 35-17 on September 2^nd. There, Marino had his first career five-touchdown game, including a pair of TD passes to both third-year wide receiver Mark Duper and seldom-utilized backup receiver Jim Jensen. These were Jensen’s first two touchdown grabs of his NFL career, while Marino ended up with 311 passing yards.

As the Dolphins continued to rattle off win after win, Marino’s next big game stats-wise came on October 21^st against the New England Patriots. Veteran wide receiver Nat Moore caught two of Marino’s four touchdown passes, as Miami took care of business 44-24 to keep their undefeated season going. Marino also finished the day with a total of 316 passing yards. However, the month of December would be where he took his already fantastic season to the next level.

For their first three games in December, Marino threw four touchdowns in each contest, beginning on December 2^nd against the Los Angeles (now Las Vegas) Raiders. In addition to the four touchdown passes, Marino also set a then-career high of 470 passing yards, consequently allowing sophomore wide receiver Mark Clayton to collect two touchdowns for 177 yards. Although the Dolphins lost to the Raiders 45-34, the team bounced back against the Colts in their first-ever visit to Indianapolis on December 9^th. Marino again passed for over 400 yards as Miami ran away with a 35-17 win despite a shocking 17-7 deficit at halftime. The regular season finale on December 17^th would see the Dolphins host the Dallas Cowboys in a Monday Night Football matchup, where Marino went for 340 yards through the air to outlast the Cowboys 28-21 and finish with a 14-2 record.

Although the Dolphins missed out on having the best record in the league thanks to the San Francisco 49ers’ 15-win season, Marino exceeded his already lofty expectations with an eye-popping 48 touchdown passes and 5,084 yards, setting new league single-season records in both categories. To put it into perspective, the previous record for passing touchdowns was held since 1963 by New York Giants’ signal caller YA Tittle with 36 touchdowns, and no one else had yet surpassed the 5,000-yard barrier. Needless to say, Marino earned the MVP award to go along with Offensive Player of the Year and first-team All-Pro honors. However, the Lombardi Trophy was still up for grabs, and the AFC East champion Dolphins would need to get past last year’s foe.

The Seahawks won their wild card game against the Raiders 13-7 for the right to face the Dolphins in the second round. However, once they got to the Orange Bowl on December 29^th, they were no match for Miami this time around. While I already covered this game from the perspective of Seahawks quarterback Dave Krieg, as far as Marino was concerned this was an excellent game as the Dolphins won 31-10 to advance to the AFC Championship Game. Marino stayed true to form, throwing for three touchdowns and 262 yards, while Krieg had one touchdown pass and 234 yards.

As the calendar turned to 1985, Marino was still playing like it was 1984 in the AFC Championship against the Pittsburgh Steelers. On January 6^th, the University of Pittsburgh product dominated with four touchdown passes and 421 passing yards, with a pair of touchdowns and 148 yards going to Duper. Meanwhile, Steelers quarterback Mark Malone had a fine performance himself with three touchdown passes for 321 yards, but it wouldn’t be enough to keep up. With the explosive offense striking once again, the Dolphins stumped the Steelers 45-28 to play in their second Super Bowl in three years.

Super Bowl XIX saw Marino and company travel west to face the 49ers on January 20th, in what would be an unofficial home game for them as Stanford Stadium was just 45 minutes south of San Francisco. I’ve also previously discussed this Super Bowl in the most recent How Elite Were They? article in relation to 49ers quarterback Joe Montana, but the game started out strong for the Dolphins as they look a 10-7 advantage through the first quarter. However, that would be the height of Miami’s championship probability on this evening, as the 49ers ran over Miami for a 28-16 halftime lead. The offense went completely cold for the Dolphins in the second half, as San Francisco’s league-leading defense shut out the Fins on the way to a 38-16 win. As the 49ers celebrated their second Super Bowl title in franchise history, Marino ended the game with a respectable 318 passing yards and a touchdown, though this also came with a pair of interceptions. Meanwhile, Montana was credited with three touchdown passes and 331 yards through the air. As of this writing, the Dolphins have not been back to a Super Bowl since.

Although this was certainly not the ending Marino was hoping for, he would be determined to build off the positive momentum with a strong return in 1985.