What if Dan Marino Had Been Drafted By The Pittsburgh Steelers?
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| Bradshaw's Heir Apparent |
The 1983 NFL Draft remains one of the most scrutinized "sliding doors" moments in sports history. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, passing on local hero and University of Pittsburgh star Dan Marino was a decision rooted in a specific organizational philosophy and a series of unfortunate assumptions, much of which is discussed in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "Elway to Marino."
The argument goes that had the declining Steelers draft Dan Marino, their declining fortunes would have been quickly reversed and the franchise would have collected several new Lombardi trophies under the stable leadership of Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher. The Marino decision is one of the ultimate "Butterfly Effects" because if the Steelers had been smart and taken Marino then possibly the 49ers do not become the team of the decade.
The key word in that last paragraph is "possibly" because while statistics are what we use to run simulations, numbers can't account for the randomness of life. While our Japanese Sportsmaster Simulation technology and AI can mimic, it cannot predict either luck or chance, thus we use the numbers to sus out what might have been over what could have been...