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Dolphins legend Dan Marino understands exactly what Chiefs star QB Mahomes is going through
Once upon a time they’d saunter on the field with Dan Marino on Sundays, Mark Duper and
Mark Clayton and the rest of their Miami Dolphins offense. Swagger in their step. Touchdowns on their minds.
“That’s what he did for your confidence,’’ Duper once said. Even practices were different. “He made them exciting,’’ coach Don Shula once said. “He wanted every pass to be perfect, every possession to end in a touchdown. That was contagious.”
How do you identify not just the all-time greats, but the all-time great shows, lurking in sports? They’re the ones who demand you watch. Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes is The One in football as he comes to Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday: electric, exceptional and eccentric in his style in a generational manner.
“No one knows what Andy [Reid] and the Chiefs are doing on offense anymore,’’ Oakland coach Jon Gruden said before playing Kansas City this year. “It’s unrecognizable football.”
“They could’ve paid him a billion,’’ Baltimore defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said of Mahomes. “I’d still think he’d be underpaid.”
“He’s doing things others aren’t,’’ coach Bill Belichick said.
You could chalk some of this up to classic opponent over-talk before a game. But Mahomes’ numbers say as much. They’re at
variance with everyone. His Chiefs have won 19 of his past 20 starts. He’s thrown 49 touchdowns against five interceptions in that time — 31 touchdowns against two interceptions this season. Two of those five interceptions were in last February’s Super Bowl in Hard Rock, the only game he’s had more than one interception in his career. He still was Most Valuable Player of that game.
It’s not just his play, though. It’s the show. There always are winners across sports. But did anyone in the NBA put on a show like The Big Three Era of the Miami Heat? Did any golfer demand attention like Tiger Woods? That’s the level Mahomes seems to be taking the Chiefs if this excellence continues.
Marino will be the only one at Sunday’s stadium game capable of understanding what Mahomes is experiencing, how this kind of winning and intimidation works at this young age. Just as when Marino began, winning nine of his first 10 games when he stepped in as a rookie, there was no “getting on the same page” with receivers or “learning NFL defenses.”
At 23, in his second year as a starter — just like Mahomes’ timeline — Marino went to the Super Bowl. Unlike Mahomes’ Chiefs, Marino’s Dolphins lost. By 24, Marino was recognized as the game’s top passer. Ditto for the 24-year-old Mahomes.
“Pick a guy and let it fly,’’ Marino would say about his philosophy.
Just as new rules loosened for Marino compared to previous quarterback eras, newer ones help Mahomes even more.
He doesn’t take the hits Marino did. Receivers don’t have to worry about their health running over the middle — giving them freedom in going after passes. It all adds up to Mahomes and his Chiefs being the show of the
NFL that Marino once was, that Tom Brady’s New England Patriots were more recently. The question now is of sustainability. Marino’s Dolphins couldn’t achieve that. Brady’s Patriots did.
You need three components to make NFL success lasting: The quarterback, the coach and the personnel guy. The Dolphins never had the personnel guy to support Marino and Shula. The Chiefs seem to have it, considering Reid’s offensive mind and general manager Brett Veach’s roster-building talent (he traded up for Mahomes, found him weapons and built this defense).
The Dolphins’ defense presents an intriguing matchup for Mahomes. Coach Brian Flores knows what’s at play. In the 2018 AFC Championship Game, his Patriots defense posted the only first-half shutout against Mahomes in the past two years. Mahomes then put up 32 points in the second half, scoring every time he got the ball. The Patriots won the game by coin-flip luck of getting the ball first in overtime.
“I think you see a lot of growth from him, even more command of the offense, more confidence, more — to say he’s more accurate is — but he is,’’ Flores said. “I think that’s in part due to even a raised level of confidence. You see a more mature player, which makes sense as well.”
Someday, history suggests, unhappy things will happen to Mahomes on a football field. They did for Marino as, first his surrounding team, then his body wore down. But, at 24, tomorrow stretches before Mahomes in a way it once did Marino and unhappy things typically happen to whoever he plays.