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In the NFL, only one quarterback can claim being a member of the 60,000-yard club.
That man is Dan Marino. Yes, Marino, who in my personal Eric Moneypenny opinion, is the greatest passing quarterback that has ever lived and/or breathed. Case closed. If you don't believe me, please immediately strike the years 1995 through his retirement season from your memory. Then, pull out any 1983-1989 Dan Marino highlights you can get your hands on (or, TiVo the NFL Network for old highlights if you have to). If you're still not convinced, go back and get any old Pitt films or tapes from 1980 to 1982 if you want. Marino pretty much "had it" at the highest level, even when he was 19. Except, he had ridiculous hair, and a cut-off mesh jersey. Fair enough, 1979 through 1982 wasn't a great fashion time for anyone.
However, contrary to what the NFL record book, commissioner Paul Tagliabue, or the NFL Hall of Fame Curator may lead you believe, Dan Marino is NOT the only member of the all-time 60,000-yard passing club.
Well, who is? First, you have to look at Warren Moon. And yes, that's the same "Warren Moon" that I have to always see immediately below my name in the FOXSports.com "Select an Expert" search drop box on this site.
As you remember, Warren Moon was one of the all-time greats, too. Which is clearly evidenced by being the ONLY member of the 70,000-yard club. The 70,000-yard club is what you arrive at after you throw in Warren's six seasons from 1978-83. Those seasons that everyone in the NFL front offices must have been complete and total IDIOTS for not having him on their roster. Whether that was the case or not, Moon didn't whine. He merely passed for 20,000-plus yards, set records, and won five Grey Cups in six CFL seasons as an Edmonton Eskimo.
However, there's a third member of the 60,000 Yard Club. So who is it?
Jim Kelly tossed for monster yards with the USFL's Houston Gamblers.
(Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)
Wait, Jim Kelly threw for like 30,000 yards or something ridiculous in his two Run-N-Shoot seasons in the USFL before heading to Buffalo, right? Wrong! Because I was exaggerating ...
Okay, hold on. Speaking of "Buffalo", "USFL", and the "CFL", it's gotta be Doug Flutie! Right? He's played in the USFL, NFL, CFL, and/or pretty much every pro league in North America that played with fields of 100 yards or more during the 1980s. So it's got to be a guy like that Re-nouveau-Patriot Doug Flutie that has reached success, due to a steady stream of production, and longevity, right?
Well, feel free to argue with me, but I've only accounted for 58,150 career Flutie pro yards, which wouldn't put him in the mix unless Tom Brady gets hurt in 2005.
John Elway? No way. It's not Elway or Dan Fouts. However, this third member of the 60,000-yard club's older brother played against both Elway AND Fouts.
So, who is the third member of the 60,000-yard club?
You guessed it! It's Marcus Allen's brother, Damon Allen of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Allen has thrown for somewhere around 64,653 yards in his over 20 seasons up north.
Allen was a star football and baseball player at Cal St.-Fullerton in the early 1980s, playing in the same conference as UNLV's star QB and punter Randall Cunningham. In the 1984 Heisman Trophy voting, he finished 16th, not a bad showing for a guy whose school would drop football entirely in the next decade.
At 6-0, 180 pounds, there wasn't as much NFL demand for Damon Allen as there was for his brother (also a quarterback in high school). So, Damon headed north to play for the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos, who, at the time were a couple seasons removed from their Warren Moon-dynasty seasons.
He shared time in Edmonton with another future CFL great Matt Dunigan, and won a Grey Cup in 1987, (the first CFL game I ever remember seeing on TV). From there, Allen was all over the place in the CFL, moving on to Ottawa, Hamilton, back to Edmonton, the Memphis Mad Dogs (during the CFL U.S. expansion), British Columbia, and finally to Toronto, where he won another Grey Cup last season.
And while Damon Allen's location hasn't always been a constant, his production has. He's had fourteen 3,000-plus yard passing seasons (highest total: 4,840 yards in 2000). He's also had eight 700-plus yard rushing seasons (highest total: 1,036 yards in 1991), making him the only quarterback to ever run for more than 11,000 yards in a career. Take that, Cunningham. Even while turning 42 next month, he's not showing much signs of slowing down, as he's the starter again for the Argos as they defend the Cup, inching towards joining Moon as the second member of the 70,000 Yards Club.
Therefore, if you're ever in a bar, and somebody asks you who the guy with the second most passing yards of all-time is, well, you should probably go to another bar. But not before you tell him that it's not Dan Marino (who the guy probably thinks it is).
It's Damon Allen.
That man is Dan Marino. Yes, Marino, who in my personal Eric Moneypenny opinion, is the greatest passing quarterback that has ever lived and/or breathed. Case closed. If you don't believe me, please immediately strike the years 1995 through his retirement season from your memory. Then, pull out any 1983-1989 Dan Marino highlights you can get your hands on (or, TiVo the NFL Network for old highlights if you have to). If you're still not convinced, go back and get any old Pitt films or tapes from 1980 to 1982 if you want. Marino pretty much "had it" at the highest level, even when he was 19. Except, he had ridiculous hair, and a cut-off mesh jersey. Fair enough, 1979 through 1982 wasn't a great fashion time for anyone.
However, contrary to what the NFL record book, commissioner Paul Tagliabue, or the NFL Hall of Fame Curator may lead you believe, Dan Marino is NOT the only member of the all-time 60,000-yard passing club.
Well, who is? First, you have to look at Warren Moon. And yes, that's the same "Warren Moon" that I have to always see immediately below my name in the FOXSports.com "Select an Expert" search drop box on this site.
As you remember, Warren Moon was one of the all-time greats, too. Which is clearly evidenced by being the ONLY member of the 70,000-yard club. The 70,000-yard club is what you arrive at after you throw in Warren's six seasons from 1978-83. Those seasons that everyone in the NFL front offices must have been complete and total IDIOTS for not having him on their roster. Whether that was the case or not, Moon didn't whine. He merely passed for 20,000-plus yards, set records, and won five Grey Cups in six CFL seasons as an Edmonton Eskimo.
However, there's a third member of the 60,000 Yard Club. So who is it?
(Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)
Wait, Jim Kelly threw for like 30,000 yards or something ridiculous in his two Run-N-Shoot seasons in the USFL before heading to Buffalo, right? Wrong! Because I was exaggerating ...
Okay, hold on. Speaking of "Buffalo", "USFL", and the "CFL", it's gotta be Doug Flutie! Right? He's played in the USFL, NFL, CFL, and/or pretty much every pro league in North America that played with fields of 100 yards or more during the 1980s. So it's got to be a guy like that Re-nouveau-Patriot Doug Flutie that has reached success, due to a steady stream of production, and longevity, right?
Well, feel free to argue with me, but I've only accounted for 58,150 career Flutie pro yards, which wouldn't put him in the mix unless Tom Brady gets hurt in 2005.
John Elway? No way. It's not Elway or Dan Fouts. However, this third member of the 60,000-yard club's older brother played against both Elway AND Fouts.
So, who is the third member of the 60,000-yard club?
You guessed it! It's Marcus Allen's brother, Damon Allen of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Allen has thrown for somewhere around 64,653 yards in his over 20 seasons up north.
Allen was a star football and baseball player at Cal St.-Fullerton in the early 1980s, playing in the same conference as UNLV's star QB and punter Randall Cunningham. In the 1984 Heisman Trophy voting, he finished 16th, not a bad showing for a guy whose school would drop football entirely in the next decade.
At 6-0, 180 pounds, there wasn't as much NFL demand for Damon Allen as there was for his brother (also a quarterback in high school). So, Damon headed north to play for the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos, who, at the time were a couple seasons removed from their Warren Moon-dynasty seasons.
He shared time in Edmonton with another future CFL great Matt Dunigan, and won a Grey Cup in 1987, (the first CFL game I ever remember seeing on TV). From there, Allen was all over the place in the CFL, moving on to Ottawa, Hamilton, back to Edmonton, the Memphis Mad Dogs (during the CFL U.S. expansion), British Columbia, and finally to Toronto, where he won another Grey Cup last season.
And while Damon Allen's location hasn't always been a constant, his production has. He's had fourteen 3,000-plus yard passing seasons (highest total: 4,840 yards in 2000). He's also had eight 700-plus yard rushing seasons (highest total: 1,036 yards in 1991), making him the only quarterback to ever run for more than 11,000 yards in a career. Take that, Cunningham. Even while turning 42 next month, he's not showing much signs of slowing down, as he's the starter again for the Argos as they defend the Cup, inching towards joining Moon as the second member of the 70,000 Yards Club.
Therefore, if you're ever in a bar, and somebody asks you who the guy with the second most passing yards of all-time is, well, you should probably go to another bar. But not before you tell him that it's not Dan Marino (who the guy probably thinks it is).
It's Damon Allen.
