Top 100 John Madden Quotes
#1. I made the grandkids laugh. John Madden finally liked me!
Frank Caliendo
#2. I relate to Nora's transformation in Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House,' and I also relate to both sisters' journeys in John Madden's film 'Proof.'
Autumn Reeser
#3. My craziest ambition is to take John Madden's job and salary.
Michael Strahan
#4. A homeless man once told me that dancing to rap music is the cultural equivalent of masturbating, and I'd sort of fell the same way about playing John Madden Football immediately after filing my income tax: It's fun, but - somehow - vaguely pathetic.
Chuck Klosterman
#5. 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' is a British comedy-drama directed by John Madden. The film is based on the 2004 novel, 'These Foolish Things', by Deborah Moggach.
Tena Desae
#6. When I watch professional football, I love listening to John Madden because I know he knows what he's talking about. He's been both down in the trenches and in front of the bench as a coach. He knows the game.
Robert Kiyosaki
#8. I think Ray Guy and John Madden for sure should be in the Hall of Fame and Cliff Branch should be as well.
Jim Otto
#9. 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
#10. Whenever you talk about a Mike Shanahan offense, you're always going to be talking about his offense.
John Madden
#11. 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
#12. I like to hear about what people do. That's more interesting than talking about what the hell I do.
John Madden
#13. 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
#14. 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
#15. He would have scored a touchdown if he hadn't been tackled right there.
John Madden
#16. They'll score if they can just get into the endzone.
John Madden
#17. It's a lot easier to get a suit than it is to get a coach.
John Madden
#18. 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
#19. There is a difference in being in shape and being in football shape. Any one can out on the field and run around , but once you start getting hit and have to get up then you find out the difference between being in shape and football shape.
John Madden
#21. John, be careful!" He glanced at her for a split second and grinned rakishly. "No problem, babe!
J.M. Madden
#22. 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
#23. I respect coaches; I respect what good coaches do. I know that you don't learn to be a coach in an hour and a half.
John Madden
#24. 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
#25. In order for this team to win the game, the quarterback has to throw the ball.
John Madden
#26. 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
#27. I'm a firm believer that there's no way that a six-year-old should have a helmet on and learn a tackling drill.
John Madden
#28. You wouldn't do something for a receiver to catch the ball if the quarterback couldn't throw it.
John Madden
#29. I would have all my offensive linemen wrestle if I could.
John Madden
#30. The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer.
John Madden
#31. 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
#32. If you see a defense team with dirt and mud on their backs they've had a bad day.
John Madden
#33. 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
#34. 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
#35. 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
#36. 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
#37. If you lose your best cornerback and punter, I'd say that's a double loss.
John Madden
#38. 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
#39. 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
#40. I'm sure that had I not been a coach, I would have been some form of a teacher.
John Madden
#41. When I got out of coaching, I had taught a class at the University of California, an extension class on football for fans. I was looking for tools. I was showing them films. I was going to write a textbook. Trip Hawkins came to me about making it a game for computers.
John Madden
#42. 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
#43. Here's a guy who can use his arms and legs at the same time.
John Madden
#44. There's so many kids who only know me from the video game.
John Madden
#45. The fewer rules a coach has, the fewer rules there are for players to break.
John Madden
#46. 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
#47. Never mind the horse's blind, just load the wagon.
John Madden
#48. 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
#49. When you have great players, playing great, well that's great football!
John Madden
#50. From the waist down, Earl Campbell has the biggest legs I have ever seen on a running back.
John Madden
#51. 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
#53. 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
#54. Here's a guy who when he runs, he moves faster.
John Madden
#55. 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
#56. 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
#57. I was a coach, and I put a lot of education and experience into coaching.
John Madden
#58. 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
#59. I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I never really had a job. I was a football player, then a football coach, then a football broadcaster. It's been my life. Pro football has been my life since 1967. I've enjoyed every part of it. Never once did it ever feel like work.
John Madden
#60. 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
#61. Don't do anything great if you can't handle the congratulations.
John Madden
#63. 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
#64. 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
#65. 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
#66. 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
#67. 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
#68. 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
#69. At the end of the game the team with the most points on the board is going to win.
John Madden
#70. Baseball has better opening days and All-Star Games than the N.F.L. does. Ours stink.
John Madden
#71. 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
#72. 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
#73. I was an old tackle riding around talking to people about sports. Like I've said to a lot of people over the years, 'I only go where old tackles go, and if an old tackle does not belong there, I'm not going.'
John Madden
#74. Well, when you're playing good football, it's good football and if you don't have good football, then you're not really playing good football.
John Madden
#75. 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
#76. When your arm gets hit, the ball is not going to go where you want it to.
John Madden
#77. 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
#78. I never professed to be perfect. I do something wrong or something stupid, I laugh at myself.
John Madden
#79. 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
#80. That's the biggest gap in sports, the difference between the winner and the loser of the Super Bowl.
John Madden
#81. 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
#82. The defense should be expecting a run or a pass here.
John Madden
#83. Mark Brunell usually likes to soak his balls before a rainy game.
John Madden
#84. 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
#85. Nothing jazzes me up like football. I've acquired more passion of the years, not less. Not to love it wouldn't make sense.
John Madden
#86. The only yardstick for success our society has is being a champion. No one remembers anything else.
John Madden
#87. 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
#88. You can't win a game if you don't score any points.
John Madden
#89. 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
#90. 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
#91. Playing in this nice weather really makes me remember all the times I got stung by a bee.
John Madden
#92. Don't worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagon.
John Madden
#93. 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
#94. 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
#95. To me, discipline in football occurs on the field, not off it.
John Madden
#96. 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
#97. 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
#98. 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
#99. There's a lot of letters in Ladanian Tomlinson
John Madden
#100. 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
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