John Madden's Tie To Beginning Of Patriots' Dynasty

The late great John Madden provided the soundtrack for countless big games during his 30-year NFL broadcasting career, which included the game that marked the beginning of the New England Patriots' dynasty.

Madden and his longtime play-by-play partner, fellow Pro Football Hall of Famer Pat Summerall, called Super Bowl XXXVII -- their final Super Bowl as a duo for FOX ahead of Summerall's retirement -- which saw the Patriots defeat the then-St. Louis Rams, 20-17, to win their first of six NFL championships.

Madden credited longtime former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady -- then in his second NFL season and first as a starter -- for finding late former wide receiver David Patten on his first career Super Bowl touchdown pass, which put New England ahead, 14-3, at halftime.

Madden also provided several memorable calls ahead of and during Brady's final march downfield, which eventually setup Adam Vinatieri's game-winning field goal as time expired.

New England began the drive on the 17-yard-line, facing a 17-17 tie with 1:37 remaining in the game, which Madden thought, at the time, should have been played conservatively.

“With no timeouts, I think that the Patriots, with this field position, you have to just run the clock out,” Madden said during the broadcast via NBC Sports. “You have to play for overtime now. I don’t think you want to force anything here. You don’t want to do anything stupid because you have no timeouts and you’re backed up.”

In hindsight, it's easy to think the opposite, with the quarterback now responsible for the most comebacks in NFL history being more than capable of marching his offense downfield to setup the most clutch kicker in NFL history.

However, at the time, the inexperienced Brady and championship-less Patriots had no timeouts remaining deep in their own territory, yet still provided an early indication of where they were headed.

“This guy is really cool though,” Madden said about Brady as he continued New England's drive with 41 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. “I’ve been impressed watching Tom Brady on film and television games and so on, but the way he's played in this game today, he has been very, very impressive with his calmness.”

Madden admitted he was wrong about the Patriots' approach on their final drive, crediting former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis for "letting it all hang out."

“This is amazing,” Madden said. “This is something, and I will admit as a coach and as an analyst, I don’t think they should have done. But they had the guts, they have a young quarterback and they did it. They were backed up inside their own 20-yard line and had no timeouts left. They're calling these plays, and not only calling these plays but making these plays. At some point, when you’re in the Super Bowl, you have to let it all hang out, and I’ll say this -- Charlie Weis and this Patriots team, they are letting it all hang out.”

Patriots owner Robert Kraft shared the following statement regarding Madden's death on Tuesday via the team's verified Twitter account:

"I can't think of a more iconic football personality over the past half century than John Madden. For generations of fans, he was known as a hall of fame football coach, a broadcaster who had a unique way of describing the game and as a namesake for one of the most popular video games ever.

"For Patriots fans, I think many of us will remember him best for his call of our first Super Bowl championship 20 years ago. His presence will be missed, but he will never be forgotten. My sincerest sympathies to the Madden family and all who are mourning his loss."

Head coach Bill Belichick, who coached in all six of New England's Super Bowl victories and nine appearances, called Madden's death "a huge loss for the NFL and professional football," while addressing reporters via Zoom on Wednesday (December 29).

“Our condolences to the Madden family. It’s a huge loss for the NFL and professional football,” Belichick said via CBS Boston. “John was just a tremendous person to be around. I think we all set out to try to have a good professional career, and John had about five of them.”

Belichick praised Madden for his impact on the game of football through coaching, as well as his fight for equality and player safety, his legendary broadcast career and his popular video game series reaching multiple generations.

“He set the standard for coaching in his era with the best record, the best team. The Raiders had a style of play that was very captivating and certainly did a lot for the league and the competitiveness of the league,” Belichick said. “He was a great champion for minorities and minority scouting and some of the great Raiders players from the smaller Black colleges that they brought into the organization. He moved to broadcasting and certainly increased the popularity of the game singlehandedly quite a bit.”

The NFL confirmed Madden's death in an official statement, noting that the legendary coach, commentator and popular video game namesake had died unexpectedly Tuesday morning.

"On behalf of the entire NFL family, we extend our condolences to Virginia, Mike, Joe and their families," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in the statement. "We all know him as the Hall of Fame coach of the Oakland Raiders and broadcaster who worked for every major network, but more than anything, he was a devoted husband, father and grandfather.

"Nobody loved football more than Coach. He was football. He was an incredible sounding board to me and so many others. There will never be another John Madden, and we will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and the NFL what it is today."

The NFL confirmed details about a memorial service will be released when available.

Madden led the then-Oakland Raiders to a Super Bowl XI victory over the Minnesota Vikings in 1977 and retired in 1978 with a 103-32-7 career coaching record and a 76.3% winning percentage, the highest in NFL history.

The Minnesota native went on to a legendary broadcasting career as the first NFL color analyst to contribute to all four major networks: CBS (1979-93), FOX (1994-2001), ABC (2002-05) and NBC (2006-08), before retiring ahead of the 2008 season.

Madden is also the namesake of EA Sports' popular Madden NFL Football video game franchise, initially lending his voice and likeness to the series in 1988.

Madden was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his coaching career in 2006.