In Defense Of... Don Shula's Controversial 3rd and 8 (Bills @ Dolphins- 1989) 

Absolutely. I’d love to see a video on the 1992 Dolphins. The last time that Marino had a real chance at going back to a Super Bowl.

@@jpmnky and who beat them get back to there another Super Bowl the Buffalo Bills

Those or the 1972 throwbacks they use occasionally now. They need to go back to either the uniforms in this video or the 1972 uniforms. The ones they have now are stupid and ugly.

That is exactly what he did.

I've eaten at one of his restaurants, I wouldn't blame him, the food was great.

If they were the best overall line in football, how come they never had a running game all of Marino's career? Great pass protection line yes, but the couldnt block for the run. That's part of the thing that saves Mahomes now. He has a great o line , but they can also block for the run. They don't have a great running game buts it's good enough to make it so that Mahomes doesn't always have to pass. I played the all time great Dolphins against the KC all time greats. Marino was the Dolphins QB, with Mercury Morris and Ricky Williams as his running backs, Duper and Clayton as his receivers, and Bob Keuchenburg and Larry little on his offense line. Likewise for Mahomes, he had all time Chiefs greats around him including Tony Gonzalez, Travis Kelce, and Tyreek Hill who is now a Dolphin. You would have thought the game would be pretty even, But Marino torches Mahomes because he had a running game. Even though the Chiefs had all time greats themselves(Derrick Thomas Was one of the linebackers) on both sides of the ball, with great run ing backs Marino had(He also had Csonka as well), and his Super quick release, it was easy for him to beat Mahomes, especially with killer B's like Baumhower(although the game misspellrd his name as Bumhower, totally disrespectful)and nonsmers like Buoniconti, Mahomes didn't have a chance. Miami won sometime 30 to 14. I've always said that if Marino could have kept playing at a high level and stayed with the Dolphins through Ricky Williams first stint with them when he led the league in rushing, Marino would have had at least 1 Super Bowl title. The simulation was done on Madden 23 with those 2 teams downloaded all time great rosters. I also did not play as either team, I let the computer play both teams so it would be even. Ended up lopsided in Narino favor. Chiefs couldn't handle the Dolphins run game and could not get to Marino fast enough to handle his Super quick release. And because he had a running game, his play action passes were super effective. Remember Denver was similar offensively with Elway and couldn't win the big one, then they got Terrell Davis and that all changed. I want to do a computer sim with the all time great Dolphins playing the all time great Patriots and Bengals to see Marino kick Brady's and Burrows cocky arrogant butts

It wasn’t NBC’s featured game that week. At the time, that network’s top announcing team was Dick Enberg and Bill Walsh, and that week they had the Bengals at the Bears (defending AFC champs vs. NFC runner-up). There was probably one other NBC game that was more high-profile that week (I’m thinking Oilers-Vikings).

I’m sure this was Marino’s call and if I’m Shula I’m making this same call again because Dan-o comes through in this situation 96 times out of 100

Problem with that is the Dolphins had no running game then and wouldn't have fooled anybody. Everybody back then knew Marino was going to throw almost every down because he had no running game and brcause of that play action didn't work for him very often

They weren't that good, at least against Buffalo in 89; in the rematch in week 8, Miami gave up 283 yards rushing; both Thurman Thomas and Larry Kinnebrew had over 100 yards; Frank Reich, starting for an injured Jim Kelly, went 6 of 9 for 123 yards and a TD and the Bills dominated time of possession. On the flip side; Miami had 348 passing yards between Marino and Scott Secules with 2 TDs and 3 picks. They also generated only 65 yards rushing.

@@tygrkhat4087 Fair enough, but division rivals usually perform unusually well against each other, compared to how they fair against the rest of the league. I guess I just get tired of defense-bashing against Miami is all.

Nope. I’m old enough to remember those crappy Dolphin defenses of the mid to late 80s. I don’t put a hot Jim Kelly up against that bunch with the game on the line

Good point. If there's no wide flash of the white of your receiver's jersey flashing to your eyes, maybe drill the ball very low to minimize risk of defensive back intercepting?

The Bills were not exactly an unstoppable offense in 1989. The KGun was not born until the 1989 playoff game against the original Clevend Browns( who are now the Baltimore Ravens) that the Bills lost, and wasn't used regularly until the Eagles game in the 1990 season. From then on, they used the KGun no huddle as their offense until Kelly retired.

You can do it if you have Madden 23 and an Xbox series X. I let the computer play all time Chiefs against all time Dolphins in Miami with Mahomes and Marino at quarterback. Mahomes looked like an amateur compared to Marino who won easily. Using today's rules. Also, Marino had a great running game, which made a huge difference

The bickering Bills. They all hated each other and things were a total mess. The most talented team by far in the AFC ends up 9-7 and Ronnie Harmon drops the game winner in Cleveland. I’d love to see the story of this team and how they righted the ship in 1990. Do the Bills beat the 49ers in SB24? No. But the Bills would have given them a run for their money had they gotten there

@@russellseilhamer4552 this game is like a highlight-reel in Buffalo I don't know if you're from Buffalo or not but literally this one play is just like Jim Kelly's highlight reel

The turning point in Shulas career was when defensive coordinator Bill Arnsparger left Miami after the 1983 season. He had built the no name defenses from 1970-73 then he came back to build the Killer Bs in 1977. Arnsparger should be in the HOF. His defenses made Shulas teams hard to beat. Shula never found an adequate replacement for Arnsparger and the defenses in Shulas final decade were consistently mediocre to terrible