Madden NFL 23 - Full John Madden Legacy Game In Madden 23
In this article, we're going to check out the John Madden Legacy Game that was added to Madden 23, to commemorate John Madden. I'm not going to talk throughout the rest of the article because you will actually hear John Madden pop in throughout the game to talk about certain players. You'll also hear the commentary crew talk about John Madden's history, and there's a special tribute at halftime.
Make sure to subscribe for more exclusive Madden 23 content coming your way. Enjoy this is a special presentation of ea sports from the coliseum in Oakland, our tribute to the coach, the John Madden legacy game. I'm Brandon Gunton. I'm here to take you through the proceedings, and coming up, we're going to tell the story of a man who was truly larger than life and whose impact on the support of football certainly is going to live on for decades and decades to come.
I'm joined now with my good friend,Charles Davis. CD your thoughts on John Madden and what he meant to the sport he loved so much for me. Brandon, It's the word "joy." He brought that to the game of football and brought the game to so many people. He stayed involved his entire life, but moving forward, when you think of football, you're always going to think of John Madden.
At one time, in old times, what do you say? We'll play some football as we are underway from Oakland in the John Madden legacy game, and he won't quite make it to the 25. So it's the NFL stars who will get the ball first and Charles, as we alluded to, we've got a different era of coach on each sideline, so the man coaching this NFL squad, we'll call him young John Madden, is a coach who was trying to establish a foothold in the NFL and was on the cusp of doing it very successfully.
You think back to those early days as the coach of the Raiders. In the late 60s in the AFL and then in the early 70s, the Raiders were a team that was ahead of its time. The Raiders were one of the first teams to have mini camps, one of the first to fill in practice because he wanted to practice coaching as much as he could, and his teams were successful right from the start of his head coaching tenure, so as we mentioned at the top, let's take you through the life of John Matt.
You know, it's very fitting that we're here back in the bay area, not just because he's so associated with Raider football, but also because this was where he spent his formative years. He was a 21st round draft pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1958. That's right, the draft was up to 30 rounds then.
They'll get this completed for Cooper, and they'll work this well upfield across the 45. That third down conversion is good for 23. The Charles you mentioned as a 21st round draft pick back in 1958, was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles, who selected him. Unfortunately for John, they just continued to dog him.
He was hurt in his first training camp. He actually never saw the field as a player in the NFL. But it was still during his time with the Eagles, you and I were talking about this before going on air, that you could start to see the light bulb going on for what his career path might entail, and it went on in a big way, didn't it?
Because while he was rehabbing his knee, he started to spend a lot of time breaking down film with the Eagles, with quarterback Ron Van Brokland, the future hall of famer and future head coach in the NFL. He coached with the Falcons. He coached with the Vikings. He was there during that time. I think Coach Madden realized his love of football, love for teaching, and combining all that together, and that meant being a football coach.
So in 1960, he began his coaching career at a small college south of San Luis Obispo called Hancock, and then later at San Diego State University under another legendary coach, the guy who had to throw it around pretty well. Doc Coryell. That swung too far for Sanders. He'll go down, but not before getting this inside the 30.
Charles You know, it was in the early 1960s that a young John Madden made the acquaintance of the owner of the Oakland Raiders, Al Davis. Of course, the two really bonded and would become one of the best owner-coach duos in NFL history. To take it a step further, Al Davis became someone who John referred to as his best friend.
Yeah In 1967, Brandon Al Davis hired Coach Madden to be a linebackers' coach. Remember, this was still the AFL at that point; we had not merged totally with the NFL and Coach Madden. He paid dividends almost immediately. The Raiders won the raiders win the nfl title in 1968, and that meant a date for the Green Bay Packers in what was now known as the Super Bowl.
backed up here in this tough spot, needing 11 yards to pick up the first, off the play fake. This is a farm. And that's going to be a touchdown nfc, Randy Moss, 28 yards, and the nfc takes it all the way down the field to score on their opening drive. Well, that drive felt like it took an eternity.
We finally have some action on the scoreboard. So Charles, as mentioned, we've got another coach, Madden, over here on the AFCS sideline. Of course, his raiders are members of the AFC West, so this is a conference he battled in for his entire career, and you think about the landscape of the NFL as he was getting into the back half of his tenure.
It was a golden era for coaches. You had Don Shula, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, and Bud Grant, but it was John Madden who had the best winning percentage on the wall, 759. The best ever, Brandon. It's hard to believe he could be so successful in the conference with all those great teams. The Steelers won four Super Bowls.
The Dolphins won two and were a mainstay in the playoffs. The Colts were tough. The Broncos came out late and went to the Super Bowl themselves. But against hall of fame coaches, John Madden's record of 36-16, and two, that's pretty incredible. Kansas City is still, to this day, the franchise leader and wins, and when you think about it, that's where that rivalry with Kansas City really took root, as did the expression "commitment to excellence," and boy was it personified by the players who played for Coach Madden on offense.
How about putting it back? Kevin Stabler, wide receiver, clipped branches? To what was he referring? How about this great lineman? He had center gym model guard Jean Upshaw tackle Ark Shell. All of them are in the pro football hall of fame and are guys on the defensive side of the ball. The Mad Stork Himself, Ted Hendricks, Willie Brown John Matuzzo, and Big Ben Davidson.
But like any great coach, he also suffered through a few tough losses along the way as well, and Brandon, those tough losses were thrown across his body, and this return is going to be halted right around the 28-yard line. Well brandon, there's no question we're going to look to our third and long, but you can bend this defense knows that as well, so they're getting blanketed downfield, and this ball winds up being intercepted.