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Smith vs Marino

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
MarinoWinner
87.3

Marino wins: Peak, Statistics

Smith
86.9

Smith wins: Honours

Candidates
Locked to American Football

Shareable URL · /compare/emmitt-smith-vs-dan-marino

Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Dan Marino
87.3

Marino leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns in 1984 — a decade ahead of the league.

1. Dan Marino
87.3
2. Emmitt Smith
86.9

Category breakdown

Season form · Touchdowns per season

Career timeline · Touchdowns per season

Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.

GOAT pace tracker

Career stage · GOAT pace

Through season 5 · Touchdowns per season
1. 🇺🇸 Emmitt Smith5 seasons played · career day 1,8257,183 touchdowns
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Dan Marino5 seasons played · career day 1,825168 touchdowns
-97.7% vs Smith at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Smith009372,5007,18312,566
🇺🇸 Marino002068168266

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 seasons are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricSmithRetiredMarinoRetired
Career rushing yards18,355
Super Bowl titles3
MVP awards11
Rushing titles4
Rushing touchdowns164
Pro Bowls89
Passing yards61,361
Touchdown passes420
Single-season TD record48
Career wins147
Dominance w25%8484
Peak w20%8893
Longevity w20%8888
Honours w20%8680
Statistics w15%9094

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Marino87.3
Smith86.9
The people
Smith
Marino

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Make your case for Smith vs Marino. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.

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