The NFL will once again honor late Hall of Fame coach and broadcaster John Madden on Thanksgiving Day with a multi-faceted celebration that includes having players wear a patch with his silhouette on their jerseys.
Next Thursday’s lineup features three games, with the Detroit Lions hosting the Green Bay Packers (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX), Dallas Cowboys hosting the Washington Commanders (4:30 p.m. ET on CBS) and Seattle Seahawks hosting the San Francisco 49ers (8:20 p.m. on NBC).
A coin with Madden’s silhouette on one side (heads) and a six-legged turducken on the reverse side (tails) will be used for each coin toss, while a “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration” stencil will be placed on the sidelines at Ford Field, AT&T Stadium and Lumen Field.
Additionally, all three networks will show a video of Madden saying, “There’s no place that I would rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game,” as the lead-in to the games.
Last season, teams painted Madden’s signature at the 25-yard line while players wore a helmet decal depicting the iconic image of him with his fist in the air as players carried him off the field following the Oakland Raiders’ victory in Super Bowl XI.
The league’s broadcast partners also selected the “Madden Player of the Game,” and – like they will again this year – that player received a trophy and a $10,000 donation in their name from the NFL Foundation to a youth or high school football program of their choice.
Madden, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 85, went 103-32-7 as the Raiders’ head coach from 1969-78. He led the franchise to eight playoff appearances, including a 32-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings in the aforementioned Super Bowl.
After he retired from coaching, Madden ventured into broadcasting and served as the color analyst at ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. He notably called 20 Thanksgiving Day games during his career, which also saw him become the namesake of EA Sports’ NFL video game.
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