The Greatest Villain In the History of All 32 NFL Teams
By Erik Lambert
New York Jets
. QB. Miami Dolphins. Dan Marino . 24. player. 30
The New York Jets have developed an unfortunate habit of being the whipping post for Hall of Fame quarterbacks over the past few decades. It’s been mostly Tom Brady since the dawn of the new millennium, but facts are facts. He was merely for the original “Jet Killer.” That was Miami Dolphins icon, Dan Marino.
Just look at the stats for an idea of how much Marino loved to play New York. In his career, he threw for 8,651 yards and 72 touchdowns against them. Both were the highest numbers he had against any one team. There were times where it appeared like he was toying with them and in truth he probably was. He was that good.
Going into 1998, Marino was 17-9 against them in his career. If not for four-straight wins his final two years, it would’ve looked so much worse. The high point of his villainy had to be the 1994 season. Going into their rematch, the Jets were 6-5 and still in the playoff hunt. They had the lead late in the game until Marino uncorked the now iconic “Fake Spike” play that saw Miami score the go-ahead touchdown.
That loss would be the first of five-straight to end the year and was a catalyst for the run of misery between 1995 and 1996 when the Jets went a combined 4-28.