John Madden Quotes & Sayings

Winning is a great deodorant. — John Madden

They're on the right road, but there's a long way to go on concussions, not only in the NFL, but college football, high school football and all football. — John Madden

Discipline is knowing what you're supposed to do and doing it as best you can ... On third down and short yardage, the Raiders don't jump offside. That's discipline - not a coat and tie, not a clean shave. — John Madden

The best thing about getting older is knowing history. The longer you live, the longer you have been in a sport, the more you know, and the more you know where things started. — John Madden

Mark Brunell usually likes to soak his balls before a rainy game. — John Madden

To me, discipline in football occurs on the field, not off it. — John Madden

If someone remembers me as a coach, they still call me 'Coach,' but if they know me for the video game, they just call me 'Madden.' — John Madden

I get a certain feeling when I go to Lambeau field in Green Bay. Soldier field in Chicago is special to me. Those are the places that I really like. The stadiums. — John Madden

The greatest gap in sports is between the winner and the loser of the Super Bowl. The winner has confetti, parades, rings, the whole thing. The loser puts his head down and goes to his house. — John Madden

The only yardstick for success our society has is being a champion. No one remembers anything else. — John Madden

That's the biggest gap in sports, the difference between the winner and the loser of the Super Bowl. — John Madden

When people watch football, they're looking for fun things. — John Madden

There was a hidden narrative I felt we could get into, It's about an accessible world. Family and relationships are accessible subjects. — John Madden

Some yards is better than none yards? — John Madden

At the end of the game the team with the most points on the board is going to win. — John Madden

When your arm gets hit, the ball is not going to go where you want it to. — John Madden

We need to let the referee's sole thing be to protect the quarterback and get those late hits out of there. They even have a stat on television that says 'knockdowns.' Knockdowns means that you knock him down after he throws the ball. The assumption is, if it's legal, we'll make excuses for them. — John Madden

Here's a guy who when he runs, he moves faster. — John Madden

Knowing his coach likes him is more important to a player than anything else. To me, it was important to be able to chew out a player for screwing up and for him to accept it because he knew I liked him anyway. — John Madden

They'll score if they can just get into the endzone. — John Madden

You wouldn't do something for a receiver to catch the ball if the quarterback couldn't throw it. — John Madden

Some day we're gonna have interactive television where you can pick the shot that you want. You can watch defense, or you can watch the end-zone shot, or you can watch an isolated shot of Terance Mathis or whoever you want to. Because right now, the only thing that you watch is what the producer or director decides to show you. — John Madden

Never mind the horse's blind, just load the wagon. — John Madden

I'd like to work with kids in special education - younger kids. — John Madden

In all the years that I've been in football - I went directly from coaching to broadcasting - I never really had a lot of experience watching it. — John Madden

Both of my sons used to coach high school football. When they started, I'd say things I shouldn't have. So I learned my lesson. — John Madden

I would never bet against Peyton Manning. You know about the age and the neck and the strength. But I had George Blanda, and as he got older, he got smarter, and he just got rid of the ball quicker. I watch Peyton, and I see George Blanda. — John Madden

I like to hear about what people do. That's more interesting than talking about what the hell I do. — John Madden

Give something that wasn't expected. — John Madden

There definitely needs to be water on the sidelines for these players, but I also had some Gatorade just in case they were allergic to the water or vice versa. — John Madden

If you play the video game, you become more interested and you want to know more about it. You want to read as much about it as you can, see it live and watch as many games as you can. If you're the type who wants to be as involved as you can in the sport, you're probably going to want to play 'Madden NFL.' — John Madden

I'm not afraid of flying; I just fear I'm going to die. I think I'm - vulnerable. I admit it. I don't fly. I got claustrophobia. I don't go in high buildings. I don't do those things. I'm just myself, whatever that is. — John Madden

Trip Hawkins - and this was the early 1980s - was saying there's going to be a day when everyone has a computer and they're going to want to do more on it, including playing games. So he started up a company, EA Sports, and he was going to have three games, football, basketball and baseball. So I was the football game. — John Madden

Football isn't nuclear physics, but it's not so simple that you can make it simple. It takes some explaining to get it across. — John Madden

He would have scored a touchdown if he hadn't been tackled right there. — John Madden

Every time I go to the theater, there's something about the atmosphere, seeing something unfold live in front of an audience, that you can't get out of your system. — John Madden

Don't worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagon. — John Madden

Sports has always been a pass-through. You pay for something, and then you pass it through to television, you pass it through to advertisers, or you pass it through to season-ticket holders, luxury boxes and then the fans. Then it all adds up, and you take in more than you pass out. — John Madden

I've got five grandkids. They play baseball, they play football, they play basketball. I go to all the games. You always have that urge to say something when you're watching them. But I've learned to keep it to myself. I've blurted out some things and embarrassed myself. — John Madden

You got one guy going boom, one guy going whack, and one guy not getting in the endzone. — John Madden

If you lose your best cornerback and punter, I'd say that's a double loss. — John Madden

When you have great players, playing great, well that's great football! — John Madden

Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see and listen to what they don't want to hear. — John Madden

There's a lot of letters in Ladanian Tomlinson — John Madden

A consulting position might work in another profession, but not in pro football. There's no such thing. They give a guy a parking spot and put his name up as a consultant, and in six months, they erase the name. — John Madden

He might want to watch where he lands when tackling that guy, because he could really hurt his hand if it gets stepped on. — John Madden

It's been the video game ever since I got out of coaching. Even when I was an announcer, fewer and fewer people remembered me as 'Coach,' and as the years went on, people just started knowing me from the game. — John Madden

It's a lot easier to get a suit than it is to get a coach. — John Madden

If you go back to the history of the 'Madden' game, I was probably on the cover of it half the time. So if I was to believe there was a curse, I would also have to believe I'd been cursed. And I've never had that feeling. — John Madden

Since 1981, I've spent every Thanksgiving Day broadcasting a game, and it is one of my favorite days. You can say, 'Woe is me, I never get to be part of the tradition,' or you can say, 'Heck, we've got our own tradition, and it's pretty good.' — John Madden

Al Davis has been the biggest influence in my professional football life. I mean, he was a guy that gave me an opportunity, one, to get into professional football in 1967 as an assistant coach, and then at the age of 32, giving me the opportunity to be the head coach. — John Madden

I wasn't saying that in a sense that I didn't plan on scoring any goals. This won't happen again. It would be nice if it did, but it's reality. — John Madden

The thing that I always respected about Bruce Arians was, when he was at Pittsburgh, he let Ben Roethlisberger decide what he liked. I used to do that. You can put something in and force-feed it to a quarterback. But if he doesn't like it and have his heart in it, it's not going to be as good as when he really likes something. — John Madden

Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble. — John Madden

Here's a guy who can use his arms and legs at the same time. — John Madden

I was in New York on September 11 when those planes hit the World Trade Center. At the time, it seemed like it was a local thing. But three or four days later, by the time we drove across the country in the bus, we realized it wasn't a local thing. You could really feel the states become united. We became the United States of America. — John Madden

The quarterback has to get rid of the ball quickly, so there's not a lot of time to make moves to gain separation. — John Madden

I tried golf for a while, but I wasn't very good at it, so I didn't play a lot of golf. I enjoy all sports, not just football. I like basketball, baseball, and I got into the World Cup. So really, sports in general are my life, and football specifically. — John Madden

People say, 'Is broadcasting the same as coaching?' I say, 'Hell, no.' Coaching, you win and lose. Broadcasting, you don't win and lose. Coaching was a lot bigger than broadcasting. — John Madden

Even when I was a little kid, I hated to dress up. I hated to put on regular shoes. I wanted to play all the time. I hate to wear any kind of coat or sweater. I've never liked hot. I've never liked to be warm. — John Madden

The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer. — John Madden

I have this set-up at my house where I have one big movie theater screen that's 9 ft. by 16 ft. Then, I have nine 63-inch monitors around it; four on either side and one underneath. So I get all nine one o'clock games, and I can switch them onto the big screen. That's what I do on the Sundays during the season. — John Madden

Whenever you talk about a Mike Shanahan offense, you're always going to be talking about his offense. — John Madden

Justin Smith was one of the most underrated players in the NFL for what he did. He would sacrifice and do the dirty work, then someone else would clean up off it. — John Madden

The only things that smell good are fat and sugar. Tofu being boiled doesn't smell good. Anything that smells good is fattening. — John Madden

Any defensive coordinator is worried about two things: a running quarterback and a deep ball. You know, don't get beat deep and don't let the quarterback run, because a big part of your defense can't account for the quarterback as a runner, so he gets a free run. — John Madden

Having been in football all my life as a player and a coach and having been on the sideline, I think the closer we can get to bringing people what it's like standing and watching the game on the sideline, with a better view, would be the perfect situation for television football. — John Madden

I would never be one to critique the announcers when I watched games. I try to watch the play and listen to the broadcasters and what they are pointing out. I was never one to say this one was good or bad. — John Madden

It takes about three times as long to explain to someone why you won't give them an autograph as it does to actually give them an autograph. — John Madden

If you win a Super Bowl before you're fired, you're a genius, and everyone listens to you. But a coach is just a guy whose best class in grammar school was recess and whose best class in high school was P.E. I never thought I was anything but a guy whose best class was P.E. — John Madden

He got up looking out of his earhole! — John Madden

We need the quarterbacks. It's a passing league and a quarterback-driven league. We need the Peyton Mannings in football uniforms out there playing - the Tom Bradys, the Drew Breeses, the Philip Riverses - we need those guys instead of them standing on the sideline. — John Madden

I always used to tell my players that we are here to win! And you know what, Al? When you don't win, you lose. — John Madden

In Oakland, Al Davis was a genius. We had Ron Wolff there, too, and he was a genius. There was no room for me to be a genius. — John Madden

Sometimes you can be one of the best, but you don't accept that if you don't get the ring or win the Super Bowl. There's a lot of good teams between the Super Bowl winner and other teams. Once the Super Bowl is over, we lump everyone into the other 31, and that's not fair. — John Madden

When the going gets tough, I'm not always sure what you do. I'm not saying that I know how to fix everything when the going gets tough, but I do know this: when the going goes tough, you don't quit. And you don't fold up. And you don't go in the other direction. — John Madden

If a guy doesn't work hard and doesn't play well, he can't lead anything. All he is, is a talker. — John Madden

I've often said, 'If I had one drive to win a game to this day, and I had a quarterback to pick, I would pick Kenny.' Snake was a lot cooler than I was. He was a perfect quarterback and a perfect Raider. When you think about the Raiders, you think about Ken Stabler. — John Madden

Nobody, not even the head coach, would do anything to a football unilaterally, such as adjust the amount of pressure in a ball, without the quarterback not knowing. It would have to be the quarterback's idea. — John Madden

I don't know that the referee can be watching holding on the offensive line and get back to the quarterback. I think watching the quarterback is a full-time job. — John Madden

Jim Harbaugh has done a great job of coaching in the NFL no matter how you put it. — John Madden

In order for this team to win the game, the quarterback has to throw the ball. — John Madden

You're not going to eliminate concussions. Anytime you hit your head, you have a chance of getting a concussion, in any sport, too. I think we have to learn more about it. Part of it is rules, part of it is equipment, part of it is medical studies, knowing more about the brain. — John Madden

The defense should be expecting a run or a pass here. — John Madden

There's so many kids who only know me from the video game. — John Madden

The fewer rules a coach has, the fewer rules there are for players to break. — John Madden

Thursday night football is here to stay. So we're looking at ways to make it safer. Now they're playing division games, so you limit travel. Now the question is, should you play Sunday night before a Thursday night? — John Madden

As I look back now on my coaching career, I think of my family, I think of the days that we spent together. I say this to coaches everywhere: If you ever have a chance to take your kids with you, take them. Don't miss that opportunity. Because when it's all over and done with, when you look back, those are going to be your fondest memories. — John Madden

One of the biggest gaps in sports is the difference between the winning and losing teams of the Super Bowl. They don't invite the losing team to the White House. They don't have parades for them. They don't throw confetti on them. — John Madden

From the waist down, Earl Campbell has the biggest legs I have ever seen on a running back. — John Madden

Discipline in football occurs on the field, not off it. Discipline is knowing what you're supposed to do and doing it as best you can. — John Madden

If you think about it, I've never held a job in my life. I went from being an NFL player to a coach to a broadcaster. I haven't worked a day in my life. — John Madden

I've always said winning's the great deodorant, and conversely, when you have a bad record, everything stinks, and everything starts to unravel, and everything falls apart. — John Madden

I've never eaten just a few bites of things I liked in my life. — John Madden

If you look at tailgating, everyone does it. It's for everyone who likes to cook outdoors. It could be a 4th of July picnic. — John Madden

Baseball has better opening days and All-Star Games than the N.F.L. does. Ours stink. — John Madden

Any time you get a new running back, whether it's a rookie or hasn't played a lot, that's the first thing you test, is their pass protection. That's big. — John Madden

It's a big deal. ABC and MNF are a big part of NFL history, and it's going to end with the Super Bowl (on ABC). You can't say you're not looking forward to it . — John Madden

I'm sure that had I not been a coach, I would have been some form of a teacher. — John Madden

Playing in this nice weather really makes me remember all the times I got stung by a bee. — John Madden