Montana/Marino

[Bos_Sports4Life]

Just curious, How do you think each QB would have faired if they had switched the situation (Marino in SF/Montana in MIA)

How many SB's would each of them have (if any)?

Do you think Marino would be higher than Montana in peoples minds?

[mikebrez bears/]

Does anyone know what a comparison thread is? I love all this garbage in the main forum

[DRS172]

Just curious, How do you think each QB would have faired if they had switched the situation (Marino in SF/Montana in MIA)

How many SB's would each of them have (if any)?

Do you think Marino would be higher than Montana in peoples minds?

Marino - Depends. Those 49ers SB teams were pretty balanced offensively. Would Marino be willing to sacrifice stats for postseason success? I know Marino says he would now, but I'm not so sure he would back then.

Montana - None. The 49ers were an absolute juggernaut when they fielded complete teams. When they had poor running games and suspect defenses? Not so much. I don't see Montana winning a SB in this situation.

[valade16]

Montana - None. The 49ers were an absolute juggernaut when they fielded complete teams. When they had poor running games and suspect defenses? Not so much. I don't see Montana winning a SB in this situation.

I have to disagree here.

Joe Montana went to the Chiefs and took them to the AFC Championship game. That was as a 37/38 year old coming off major injuries. Both years with the Chiefs he didn't have a 1,000 yd back (nor a starting HB who averaged 4.0+ YPC). When they went to the AFC title game the defense was 14th in the league...

Montana won wherever he went, I think it'd be foolish to say he couldn't have won with the Dolphins.

[Big Zo]

Marino would have won about 7 super bowls. Montana could have gotten far, but i don't think he would have won.

[DRS172]

I have to disagree here.

Joe Montana went to the Chiefs and took them to the AFC Championship game. That was as a 37/38 year old coming off major injuries. Both years with the Chiefs he didn't have a 1,000 yd back (nor a starting HB who averaged 4.0+ YPC). When they went to the AFC title game the defense was 14th in the league...

Montana won wherever he went, I think it'd be foolish to say he couldn't have won with the Dolphins.

Montana didn't have a terrible running game or defense with the Chiefs. They were actually pretty average in most categories.

[Ebbs]

Montana would have found a way to win Atleast 1. But Marino would probably have won Atleast once, maybe twice

[ChicagoJ]

The 49ers were a stacked team. I mean, Jerry Rice as your wide receiver? Marino would have won super bowls there. I don't think Montana would have won in Miami just because the teams weren't as talented.

[valade16]

Montana didn't have a terrible running game or defense with the Chiefs. They were actually pretty average in most categories.

2 Things.

1) Yes they would be considered average, but it's still impressive he took that team to the AFC Title game at 37 coming off 3 solid years of injuries.

2) It's not as if the Dolphins weren't average themselves for parts of Marino's tenure. Here are their defensive ranks:

1983: 1st

1984: 7th

1985: 12th

1990: 4th

1992: 11th

1995: 10th

The Chiefs defense in Montana's 2 years were 14th and 7th. Their Rushing game was 20th and 11th.

I think Montana could've done at least what Marino did with the Dolphins, with the possibility of actually winning a Superbowl.

One thing I guarantee, Montana was not simply good due to the system...

[valade16]

The 49ers were a stacked team. I mean, Jerry Rice as your wide receiver? Marino would have won super bowls there. I don't think Montana would have won in Miami just because the teams weren't as talented.

In 1981 and 1984? Care to check again?

[CCRider]

Does anyone know what a comparison thread is? I love all this garbage in the main forum

You sure seem to complain a lot.

[CCRider]

Just curious, How do you think each QB would have faired if they had switched the situation (Marino in SF/Montana in MIA)

How many SB's would each of them have (if any)?

Do you think Marino would be higher than Montana in peoples minds?

I don't about all that, I do know I'd rather have Joe Montana than Dan Marino.

[NYSPORTS98]

Well, IMO, Don Shula was absolutley lost with Marino and could never figure out how to build a team around him. With Montana, I believe Shula would have built a more balanced team and won Superbowls with Montana

Bill Walsh would have scaled back Marino's attempts and kept the game balanced with Craig, Rathman and Company. Marino in the WCO would have been interesting. He wasn't as mobile as Montana so he certainly would have taken more hits in a dominant NFC.

Both would have won Superbowls IMO. Walsh however, I believe would have done a much better job building a balanced team with Marino than Shula did. Shula likely would have been better off coaching a Montana led team than Marino.

[DRS172]

2) It's not as if the Dolphins weren't average themselves for parts of Marino's tenure.

Here are the defensive rankings for their starting years ...

Montana
81 - 2nd
82 - 23rd
83 - 4th
84 - 1st
85 - 2nd
86 - 3rd
87 - 3rd
88 - 8th
89 - 3rd
90 - 2nd
93 - 14th
94 - 7th

That's ten top 10 defenses in twelve seasons. And an average ranking of 6. Montana had only one season with a bottom 10 defense, and what happens that year? His team is awful and doesn't even make it to the playoffs.

Now let's look at Marino's defenses...

83 - 1st
84 - 7th
85 - 12th
86 - 26th
87 - 16th
88 - 24th
89 - 22nd
90 - 4th
91 - 24th
92 - 11th
93 - 24th
94 - 17th
95 - 10th
96 - 17th
97 - 16th
98 - 1st
99 - 19th

Despite playing more seasons, Marino has only five top 10 defenses. And they had an average ranking of 15. He also had five bottom 10 defenses. There's really no comparison who had the better deal. And this is just the defenses. Can you imagine if we were comparing running games? Receiving cores? Coaching? Montana has him beat across the board.

[Bigdaddyburch]

It is impossible to say. 2 completely different offences. One took brains and precision the other took a big arm and down the field. There is no way to know if either could play in the others system.