Art Rooney Sr. stood in the kitchen area of the Steelers’ old offices at Three Rivers Stadium a few years after they passed on Dan Marino in the draft. He pumped his right arm as if to throw a football.
You have to have this if you want to win, Rooney said, meaning a good quarterback.
The Steelers paid for ignoring Marino’s imposing shadow with seven years of bad football, or thereabouts, behind so-so quarterback play.
Terry Bradshaw was going on 35 years old and seemingly in good health when the Steelers drafted defensive lineman Gabe Rivera instead of Marino in 1983.