This one is easy. Nobody does any research around here. Kelly and Marino faced each other in twenty-one games throughout their careers, including three playoff games. Jim Kelly won all three playoff games and dominated with a 14-7 win advantage. The qb ratings, yards per attempt, and completion rates are near identical. So the numbers wash out. It was utter dominance. Marino didn't have the lead for even one second in all three playoff games. Not. One. Second. The entire era they overlapped belonged to Kelly. It was a total beatdown by Kelly no matter how you look at it. It really is simple.
This has to be a troll job. No one really thinks w/l against each other’s team is any kind of a deciding factor at all. Cherry picking 3 categories of passing stats and saying they’re near identical, them saying because of that the stats are a wash, is just ridiculous. Why would anyone consider the extra 25k yards or 175 TD passing when their comp % is close to the same?
The xtra 35k and 175 TD passes came with 3000 more pass attempts than Kelly. Same thing happens to Steve Young who gets criminally underrated. So you look at the analytics to get a better picture. And they tell it. That's the more accurate assessment. And they come out nearly identical in the ratings. But then you look at head to head, and Kelly blows him out of the water. This isn't 1985 were you decide based on who looked prettier or who had the hotter wife. We've moved beyond that.
Head to head is not really head to head. That’s Marino vs the Bills, one of the greatest all around teams ever and Kelly vs the dolphins, not the same story of greatness. The H2H record is 100% worthless in the comparison of the 2. While you’re looking into all the analytics and everything, I’m sure the question must have popped into your mind why Marino had 3000 more att. Not only was his career longer but he never had Thurman Thomas or even Greg Bell. The best he had was Kareem Abdul Jabbar, most people don’t even know him outside of the same name Basketball player. We can also argue WR. Reed is a HoF, Kelly also had Lofton for a short window. Marino had some solid guys but outside of Fryar, who only had a couple seasons in MIA, he didn’t get HoFers.