If this is a once-in-a-lifetime season for Peyton Manning, Dan Marino knows the feeling. He lived it in 1984, when he tore up defenses for 48 touchdown passes and 5,084 yards.
The 48 touchdowns were a single-season NFL record then and now, but not for long.
Sometime in the next two weeks, Manning will blow past Marino for a date with his record-book destiny.
Manning has thrown 44 touchdown passes through 12 games for the Indianapolis Colts, a pace that will give him 58 for the season. That would render Marino's prolific effort of 20 years ago for the Miami Dolphins a piddling second-best.
But at least in one regard, Manning and Marino always will share a common bond. It is in their mastery of the position and their dominance of the era. As was Marino in 1984, Manning is now unstoppable on the field.
"You have to have that confidence, and you have to feel like that," Marino said. "I'm sure Peyton feels like that now, that he can go out there and do what he's doing and get everything accomplished with the weapons that he has.
"As a quarterback, you have to feel that way. You have to have that confidence that you're not going to be stopped."
The retired Dolphins quarterback and future Hall of Famer was a reluctant interview during his 17 NFL seasons. But yesterday in a national conference call, Marino enlightened reporters with insights on the Manning phenomenon before relinquishing one of his cherished records.
Among the points Marino made:
If his single-season record had to fall, Manning was the right man to bring it down.
The league's emphasis on illegal contact in the secondary has had a major effect on increased offense this season, but Manning would've set a new standard without that aid.
That he would not trade his career highlights and numerous league records for the Super Bowl championship ring that eluded him.
A few weeks ago, Marino, in his role as studio analyst for CBS' The NFL Today, bemoaned the fact teams weren't trying to blitz Manning more often. Now, he sounds accepting of the inevitable.
"For a guy to do it the way Peyton is doing it, he has a lot of class and he's everything that's right about the NFL and playing the quarterback position," Marino said. "He's a hard worker, the work ethic is there. If anybody is going to do it, you'd like to see a guy like Peyton [do it] because of what he's done and the type of person that he is."
