[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

Dan Marino reflects on his rookie season:

It's been 34 years since Dan Marino broke into the National Football League as a rookie quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, but he remembers it like it was yesterday.

Marino's Hall-of-Fame career had two beginnings back in 1983 - his first appearance in relief of David Woodley in the fourth quarter of a Monday night loss at the Los Angeles Raiders and his first start three weeks later in Miami against the Buffalo Bills.

Historians choose to recall Marino's first touchdown pass to tight end Joe Rose against the Raiders as a sign of things to come, rather than how that Bills game began for him at home.

"My first two series I threw two picks," said Marino. "You've got to have a short memory."

With that approach already ingrained in him, Marino went on to throw three touchdown passes to keep Miami in a tight game with its division rival from Buffalo. The Bills pulled out a 38-35 overtime victory, but the Dolphins would win nine of their last 10 games behind Marino, setting the stage for his legendary second season in 1984.

Marino looked at the behind the scenes for a moment when he shared the story of a conversation that took place on the sidelines between him and veteran safety Lyle Blackwood.

"It was my first start and after the national anthem (safety) Lyle Blackwood comes over to me and he says, 'Dan, it's your first start and I don't want to put any pressure on you at all, but if you play bad we're going to lose.'" Marino recalled. "Then he ran on the field and I was like, 'Okay.' That was it."

And that was it, as Marino never looked back and continued to take the league by storm for 15 more seasons, setting every passing record imaginable until Brett Favre passed him years later. His teammates knew right away that he was going to be something special.

"He was unbelievable," Rose said. "He was accurate, confident and it was just a matter of time. From day one he was so good and everybody looked and just knew it was going to be different. He had the goods."

Even though Marino came into training camp that year dead set on winning the starting job, he knew the odds were not in his favor with David Woodley having started in the Super Bowl.

Hall-of-Fame Head Coach Don Shula told Marino to prepare as if he was going to be the starter and to be ready for whenever that moment arrived, which Marino believes helped with his development.

"I was very fortunate when I first came in the league as I had some talented players around me like Mark Clayton, Mark Duper and Nat Moore," Marino said. "Rookie QB's are going to have to grow as much as they can on the run and that's part of the deal. I would tell them to have a short memory. You're going to have some bad games so you have to keep it going and just turn it loose."

Marino had some thoughts on one of this year's rookie quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes II. "I've seen him run around pretty good and he made some plays. He reminds me of me except he has better wheels." Marino joked. "They(Chiefs) wouldn't have picked him tenth if they didn't think he could be a big-time player in the league. Andy Reid knows quarterbacks."

Considering the fact that Marino was one of the big-time players of his era and set that as his goal back in that rookie season should only further that opinion.

Awesomeness