Dave Hyde: Dan Marino's age-old Super Bowl lesson for Patriots' Drake Maye

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Feb 6, 2026

Published in Football

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Nat Moore spoke at a luncheon last week with some other aging Miami Dolphins receivers and their quarterback, Dan Marino, translating what it was like back in their grand days that are relevant again this Super Bowl Sunday.

When the veteran Moore was understanding Marino’s talent, the veteran receiver made a request before playing New England in 1983.

“Look, I’m tired of catching the ball for short, first downs,’’ he told Marino. “I want the touchdown. I’m going to run five steps, hit (the cornerback) with an elbow to get space, and I need you to throw it over his head so I can catch it running in the end zone.”

“Nat,” Marino said, “I’ll throw it right by his ear. He turns around, he’ll get it in the face.”

The cornerback didn’t turn. The ball buzzed his ear. Moore caught the touchdown.

“Just like I told you,’’ Marino said four decades later at a weekly sports luncheon hosted by Kim Bokamper, their former teammate at his Fort Lauderdale restaurant, Cut & Catch.

Those were the days — and they still are in the retelling. By his second season in 1984, Marino became the youngest quarterback to start a Super Bowl. He’s still the youngest, too, 35 days younger than New England’s Drake Maye for this this Super Sunday.

Ah, youth. There’s a lesson in all this for Maye. It’s one Marino learned across his grand career and always comes up in retirement. But no one imagined it stepping off the plane in San Francisco back in January 1985, wearing wraparound sunglasses like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his hit movie of the time.

“The Terminator is here,’’ Marino said.

This was the last season like it for the Dolphins: 11 straight wins to start, the AFC East title, two double-digit playoff wins to reach the Super Bowl. But it wasn’t just the wins. It was the new show in town — just like it is for Maye in New England this season.

“I think I’ll throw five today,’’ the legend has Marino saying before the opener against Washington.

He threw five touchdowns that day. He threw a NFL record 48 touchdowns and for a record 5,084 yards. He often wore No. 14 in practices, because his trademark No. 13 had a tendency to disappear.

He wasn’t yet to the point in his career, as he said that luncheon, when “Sometimes Coach Shula would send in running plays, and I’d change them to passes.”

“Never changed passes to runs,’’ former receiver Jimmy Cefalo said.

San Francisco surprised the Dolphins by playing nickel defense — five defensive backs — on first down. This was a time when teams only played nickel on third down. That threw off the Dolphins offense to the point, even now, offensive coordinator Dave Shula remembers not adjusting quickly enough.

San Francisco won, 38-16. It was 49ers quarterback Joe Montana’s day, not Marino’s. The opportunity wasn’t lost on Shula, the rock-solid legend who sat afterward at his locker, openly crying, in a manner that stunned Dolphins personnel.

Marino, however, looked at from the lens of a 23-year-old. They didn’t play well that day. But no matter. A Pepsi commercial recreated how Marino felt when it had him meeting Montana at a vending machine after the game. Montana bought Marino a soda.

“See ya, Dan,’’ Montana said, leaving.

“Joe, next year, I’m buying,’’ Marino said.

It’s Maye’s stage now. His time. His chance.

“I know what this opportunity is about and what’s at stake in this game,’’ he said this Super Bowl Week.

But does he? Can he really in his second season? Years later, Marino went to Super Bowl Week in New Orleans for a corporate deal. He stayed for the game but felt nauseous watching what he missed out on and left. He retired with passing records, a Hall of Fame jacket and the kind of career few have.

He knows what is missing, though It’s been 41 years since that loss to San Francisco. He’s 64 and still waiting for a second trip to the Super Bowl.

There’s the lesson for Maye, if he can grasp it. As Marino once told me: “Sometimes, I think it came too easy, getting there in my second year.”