Jump to content

Jim Kelly vs Dan Marino: Better QB?


Recommended Posts

Marino, hands down. As much as I love Kelly and I respect his command of the no huddle, I would have been interested to see what Marino could have done with Reed to throw to and Thomas to hand off to.

 

This. The no-huddle really worked for us, but I'd take the "possibly" slight downgrade in Marino running that offense for the arm and accuracy he brings (and you can always adjust the offense). Reed, Thurman, throw in Lofton for the long ball, scary.

 

Put it this way, it has been noted above that Jim beat Dan consistently, but those wins were never easy and all Dan had were two sprinters on the outside. He made a lot out of what he was given, which wasn't much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 101
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

 

Team focused? You mean like when he was publicly calling out teammates via the media? Give me a break.

 

I guess you stopped watching Kelly's career and the Bills after the 1989 season. Yes, Kelly came in as a cocky SOB. But under Marv/Polian and through the bickering Bills stuff, he matured and became a huge team guy. He had the entire team over to his house after games, look at the relationships the players still have, he never cared about his stats, etc.

 

Yes, Jim had a better supporting cast (at least RB and usually defense) and as I said before Marino was by far the better pure passer (the guy broke just about every record there was), but I would still take Kelly for those precious intangibles. Watching both of their careers side-by-side (yes, with a Bills bias) there is no doubt that Kelly was a better leader and tougher. Marino would throw balls into the ground to avoid getting hit. I don't think I ever saw Marino make a tackle on an interception or get out in front of a RB who had reversed field to block for him. Now a QB shouldn't necessarily do those things because you don't want him getting hurt, but ask the other guys on the team who are constantly putting themselves in harm's way, how they feel about their QB if he does do those things. They follow him. Plus Marino was a whiner with refs, with teammmates. Kelly wasn't.

 

So, no question Marino was a more prolific, skilled passer. His release may have been the quickest I've ever seen. Great player. Great QB. But I'm still picking Kelly as QB of my team. This isn't fantasy, this is football.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I guess you stopped watching Kelly's career and the Bills after the 1989 season. Yes, Kelly came in as a cocky SOB. But under Marv/Polian and through the bickering Bills stuff, he matured and became a huge team guy. He had the entire team over to his house after games, look at the relationships the players still have, he never cared about his stats, etc.

 

Yes, Jim had a better supporting cast (at least RB and usually defense) and as I said before Marino was by far the better pure passer (the guy broke just about every record there was), but I would still take Kelly for those precious intangibles. Watching both of their careers side-by-side (yes, with a Bills bias) there is no doubt that Kelly was a better leader and tougher. Marino would throw balls into the ground to avoid getting hit. I don't think I ever saw Marino make a tackle on an interception or get out in front of a RB who had reversed field to block for him. Now a QB shouldn't necessarily do those things because you don't want him getting hurt, but ask the other guys on the team who are constantly putting themselves in harm's way, how they feel about their QB if he does do those things. They follow him. Plus Marino was a whiner with refs, with teammmates. Kelly wasn't.

 

So, no question Marino was a more prolific, skilled passer. His release may have been the quickest I've ever seen. Great player. Great QB.But I'm still picking Kelly as QB of my team. This isn't fantasy, this is football.

 

Yeah, they both played football in the NFL last time I checked and by any objective measure Marino was the better QB. Hell I'd take either one as my QB, but given a choice I take Marino every single time.

Edited by 26CornerBlitz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am a die hard Jim Kelly fan. I became a Bills fan when he finally joined, and he and I have had the same Cancer. That said... its a Push. If you could combine certain aspects of the two, you would have literally had THE perfect QB.

 

Can you guys quit bitching about that BS already? We got to the superbowl doing what we did. Billy B came up with one of the most off the wall, and brilliant, defensive game plans ever to slow us down.

 

And Jim Kelly and the offense did NOT lose that Superbowl, the Defense did. Go back and watch again objectively. They couldn't tackle or stop the run at all.

O averaged 26.8 ppg, d allowed 16.5 ppg...

 

Both units underperformed, but since the d added 2 pts, offense only scored 17, 10 points off of the average. So they were only in scoring rage 4 times the whole game...

 

Not all that impressive for the team that put up over 40 in the two games prior.

Marino was the better QB - Kelly had the better team and was a better fit.

Yup.

 

Rivers is to Marino as Eli is to Kelly, imo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

O averaged 26.8 ppg, d allowed 16.5 ppg...

 

Both units underperformed, but since the d added 2 pts, offense only scored 17, 10 points off of the average. So they were only in scoring rage 4 times the whole game...

 

Not all that impressive for the team that put up over 40 in the two games prior.

 

Yup.

 

Rivers is to Marino as Eli is to Kelly, imo.

 

2 rings to none.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Yeah, they both played football in the NFL last time I checked and by any objective measure Marino was the better QB. Hell I'd take either one as my QB, but given a choice I take Marino every single time.

 

Fair enough 26CB...and I agree that both were great QBs. And the line about fantasy wasn't directed at you but more at posts like the one below. Just posting stats doesn't tell the full story.

 

 

Marino by a HUGE gap.

 

Jim Kelly is overrated, sorry but true. He's the 90s version of Eli Manning.

 

21 TD to 28 INT in the playoffs

 

average year is 3,500 yds, 23 TD, 17 INT.

 

Marino: 61,361 yds, 420 TD

Kelly: 35,467 yds, 237 TD

 

Did you ever actually watch Kelly play? Overrated?

 

Just as an experiment (stat-wise) let's look at a couple of things. First, Marino played 17 years in the NFL. Kelly played only 11.

Kelly played two years in the USFL. Now comparing those stats to NFL stats may be a bit of comparing apples to oranges, but if you add those in it becomes:

 

Marino: 61,361 yds, 420 TDs in 17 seasons

Kelly: 45,309 yds, 320 TDs in 13 seasons

 

You posted Kelly's yearly average, but not Marino's

 

Kelly: 3,485 yds, 25 TDs, 17 INTs

Marino: 3,609 yds, 25 TDs, 15 INTs

 

That equates to about 8 yards more per game for Marino and 0.125 fewer Ints/game. Hmmm...

 

Not looking like quite as big of a difference anymore. And if you prorated Kelly's averages out to 17 seasons it would look like this

(not saying the length one plays/durability isn't a factor in making a player great, but again, Marino always avoided contact and Kelly

took it head on, so goes to figure his career was a bit shorter).

 

Kelly: 59,245 yds, 425 TDs, 289 INTs

Marino: 61,361 yds, 425 TDs, 255 INTs

 

Yes, it's just a lot of number crunching, but it shows that the gap probably wasn't as big as it seems on a year to year basis, as opposed

to just looking at their overall yards/TDs at the end of their careers.

Edited by folz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...