For the second year in a row, every NFL team playing on Thanksgiving Thursday wore a special black and orange patch on the upper left corner of their jersey… but why?
The patch is worn to honor a one-time fixture of Thanksgiving and football, the legendary Hall of Fame coach and broadcaster John Madden. The patch features Madden’s silhouette, shown while wearing a headset on the sidelines.
Thursday’s lineup features three games, including the Chicago Bears at the Detroit Lions (12:30 p.m. ET on CBS), New York Giants at the Dallas Cowboys (4:30 p.m. ET on FOX) and Miami Dolphins at the Green Bay Packers (8:20 p.m. on NBC).
A commemorative coin with Madden’s silhouette and a six-legged turducken will be used for the pregame coin toss, while a “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration” stencil will be placed on the sidelines at Ford Field, AT&T Stadium and Lambeau Field.
Additionally, all three television networks will show a video of Madden as the lead-in to the games, with him saying, “There’s no place that I would rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game. There’s just certain things that go together – the turkey, the family, tradition and football.”
Madden, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 85, went 103-32-7 as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969-78. He led the franchise to eight playoff appearances, including a 32-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bow XI.
After he retired from coaching, Madden ventured into broadcasting and served as the color analyst for 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.
The league also honored Madden in 2022 by painting his signature on the 25-yard line on Thanksgiving Day, while players wore a helmet decal that depicted the iconic image of him with his fist in the air as he was carried off the field following the aforementioned Super Bowl victory.
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