Was Madden the greatest influence ever on the NFL?

NFL playing career cut short by rookie year injury, but after that...wow! Is he the one who has done more for the NFL than anyone else in history? I was thinking about Madden and Lombardi.

Maybe obvious oversights that I'm missing.

1976 Raiders, one of the best teams ever and what a roster.

And I can't easily think of anybody to this day who is better in the booth.

RIP

It's funny that Madden was HC of the most despised group of cheats and vandals in NFL history.

Threedee":3mng8ihg said:

It's funny that Madden was HC of the most despised group of cheats and vandals in NFL history.

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They pushed the window for sure, but you know our Super Bowl team was labeled as the same thing and we loved them.

What is missing now, attitude, we are just a bunch of "Good Guys" now.

chris98251":19mtuvhc said:

Threedee":19mtuvhc said:

It's funny that Madden was HC of the most despised group of cheats and vandals in NFL history.

Click to expand...

They pushed the window for sure, but you know our Super Bowl team was labeled as the same thing and we loved them.

What is missing now, attitude, we are just a bunch of "Good Guys" now.

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Well, we do have DK. I think there's a difference between players with attitude (Aaron Donald, Dez Bryant, Michael Bennett, OBJ, etc) and a team that was actively breaking the rules on a regular basis, and doing shit like placing stickum on the football.

Nevertheless, Al Davis was the face of cool, and Madden was the lovable goof in charge of the asylum.

You can't really get away with 60s-80s Raiders shenanigans, which is why you see a more restrained and covert system operating in New England.

Threedee":3getp1pg said:

It's funny that Madden was HC of the most despised group of cheats and vandals in NFL history.

Click to expand...

I was Raiders fan before we got the Hawks..What do you mean cheats?
I only saw them get cheated by the NFL in that Steelers game (immaculate reception)
it was a team of characters who partied like crazy and delivered vicious hits which was
LEGAL in the NFL back then..Stickum was widely used and lightly enforced so what
cheats am I missing?

Madden was a good coach..I didn't care about booth guys then or now and the video game
sucked for a long time..I was a Tecmo/Super Tecmo bowl player.
Just being honest here.

IndyHawk":3pckcvlo said:

Threedee":3pckcvlo said:

It's funny that Madden was HC of the most despised group of cheats and vandals in NFL history.

Click to expand...

I was Raiders fan before we got the Hawks..What do you mean cheats?
I only saw them get cheated by the NFL in that Steelers game (immaculate reception)
it was a team of characters who partied like crazy and delivered vicious hits which was
LEGAL in the NFL back then..Stickum was widely used and lightly enforced so what
cheats am I missing?

Madden was a good coach..I didn't care about booth guys then or now and the video game
sucked for a long time..I was a Tecmo/Super Tecmo bowl player.
Just being honest here.

Click to expand...

They were notorious cheats. I do agree that officiating was much more relaxed, and that they got jobbed in the Stealers game. In the situation I described, the stickum was smeared on the ball, rather than applied to a receiver's hands. It was simply done to mess up the center snapping the ball, and more broadly to screw with him, since he got mad and started yelling.

Tecmo Bowl is awesome.

Threedee":pqpm4s9a said:

IndyHawk":pqpm4s9a said:

Threedee":pqpm4s9a said:

It's funny that Madden was HC of the most despised group of cheats and vandals in NFL history.

Click to expand...

I was Raiders fan before we got the Hawks..What do you mean cheats?
I only saw them get cheated by the NFL in that Steelers game (immaculate reception)
it was a team of characters who partied like crazy and delivered vicious hits which was
LEGAL in the NFL back then..Stickum was widely used and lightly enforced so what
cheats am I missing?

Madden was a good coach..I didn't care about booth guys then or now and the video game
sucked for a long time..I was a Tecmo/Super Tecmo bowl player.
Just being honest here.

Click to expand...

They were notorious cheats. I do agree that officiating was much more relaxed, and that they got jobbed in the Stealers game. In the situation I described, the stickum was smeared on the ball, rather than applied to a receiver's hands. It was simply done to mess up the center snapping the ball, and more broadly to screw with him, since he got mad and started yelling.

Tecmo Bowl is awesome.

Click to expand...

Well I remember at one time they figured if some was good more was better, they could hardly hand the ball to someone it was so covered with it, I wonder how long Biletnikoff, Hayes, Tatum and Branch too to shower with that stickum like pine tar took to get cleaned off everything they had on and touched.

As far as cheating, and dirty, it was more about aggressive and punching you in the mouth after telling you they were going to punch you in the mouth then asking you and the league what you were going to do about it and when you opened your mouth punching you again.

They were the blue collar, hard life people's team that had to scrap to live, the anti-hero's of the league's pretty boys, and cliche teams, the polar opposite of the Dallas Cowboys. The league hated them, other teams hated them, other players hated them, unless they became one and you then had a player that wouldn't want to be anything else.

Al Davis and his staff had a way of taking the leagues problem children and taking their abilities and finding a roll on his teams, treated them as the individuals they were and not like an expendable toy piece.

Was never a fan of greasy Uncle Al, but was always a fan of Madden.
Dude was genuine, loved the game, and was funny.

Vince Lombardi coached the Packers to win the first Superbowl (before they called it that, as I recall) and got the trophy named after him, but to me the name John Madden is more synonymous with NFL football than any other name would be.

BOOM!

GeekHawk":1uo435jk said:

Vince Lombardi coached the Packers to win the first Superbowl (before they called it that, as I recall) and got the trophy named after him, but to me the name John Madden is more synonymous with NFL football than any other name would be.

BOOM!

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Nah, each era has legends, Hall of fame should be named after Madden I think.

Honestly, I loved Madden, but I'd say no.

From a media perspective certainly, but would the NFL landscape be completely different without him? Debateable.

For me?

I say Bill Walsh near the top. His offense is all over the league.

However, the guy I think who doesn't get his just due for what he did for the sport? A guy I personally couldn't stand but there is no question the landscape of the NFL would be completely different.

Al Davis.

That dude pretty much authored the AFL-NFL merger, even though that wasn't entirely what he wanted. He thought they had the NFL by the balls and the other owners agreed to the merger.

Could you imagine that today? an upstart league that competes with the big boys and ends up forcing a merger.

That's nuts.

Marvin49":26h2krgo said:

Honestly, I loved Madden, but I'd say no.

From a media perspective certainly, but would the NFL landscape be completely different without him? Debateable.

For me?

I say Bill Walsh near the top. His offense is all over the league.

However, the guy I think who doesn't get his just due for what he did for the sport? A guy I personally couldn't stand but there is no question the landscape of the NFL would be completely different.

Al Davis.

That dude pretty much authored the AFL-NFL merger, even though that wasn't entirely what he wanted. He thought they had the NFL by the balls and the other owners agreed to the merger.

Could you imagine that today? an upstart league that competes with the big boys and ends up forcing a merger.

That's nuts.

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Al Davis was a big part of what we see currently in the NFL, especially on offense but the business aspect as well, he was the one of first big believer in offenses that could use the forward pass. The AFL was much more fun to watch due to this.

Go back and look at the 60's and leading passers, almost everyone was AFL AFC team originally, some may show up as NFL or NFC after the merger and they swapped Conferences for competitive reasons but the originals.

Madden is probably the most loved but not for his coaching but for his announcing and name behind the game. Davis was more influential. He chose the talent and was pretty heavy handed in the type of football he wanted to play.

Davis was more influential for what he did while being part of the league. He didnt want the merger, he wanted to destroy NFL. Given the demographics and political mood of the country they probably could have done it. The NFL was the old establishment
He was probably the man most feared by the NFL, so he had a huge influence in there decision to merge but he didnt want it.

justafan":2i75bh6v said:

Madden is probably the most loved but not for his coaching but for his announcing and name behind the game. Davis was more influential. He chose the talent and was pretty heavy handed in the type of football he wanted to play.

Davis was more influential for what he did while being part of the league. He didnt want the merger, he wanted to destroy NFL. Given the demographics and political mood of the country they probably could have done it. The NFL was the old establishment
He was probably the man most feared by the NFL, so he had a huge influence in there decision to merge but he didnt want it.

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That was my point.

It wasn't what he wanted. The other owners made it happen...

...but it never would have happened without him. They had the NFL by the balls and he thought they could take them. They'd never have been in that bargaining position without him.

Madden crosses eras of NFL football. He brought casual TV viewers to the NFL because of his way of describing the action. His video game franchise in the 1990s-2000s brought millions of younger fans to the game. He gave NFL on Fox legitimacy by agreeing to join their broadcast team when CBS lost their contract.

His influence in the social sense far outstripped his on-field influence.

Marvin49":3ern3j5z said:

justafan":3ern3j5z said:

Madden is probably the most loved but not for his coaching but for his announcing and name behind the game. Davis was more influential. He chose the talent and was pretty heavy handed in the type of football he wanted to play.

Davis was more influential for what he did while being part of the league. He didnt want the merger, he wanted to destroy NFL. Given the demographics and political mood of the country they probably could have done it. The NFL was the old establishment
He was probably the man most feared by the NFL, so he had a huge influence in there decision to merge but he didnt want it.

Click to expand...

That was my point.

It wasn't what he wanted. The other owners made it happen...

...but it never would have happened without him. They had the NFL by the balls and he thought they could take them. They'd never have been in that bargaining position without him.

Click to expand...

Im sorry. You been plagiarized. I didnt even read all the posts. I agree with you. lol