Commentary: Madden’s spirit lives on through Manning

By Andy Phillips
Special to the Pro Football Hall of Fame

When it comes to names that carry weight – tons and tons of weight – across the National Football League, you would be hard pressed to find two more revered than Madden and Manning.

Madden, as in JOHN MADDEN, the Pro Football Hall of Fame coach who has the highest winning percentage in league history at .759 (minimum 100 wins).

When Madden passed away Dec. 28, 2021, it left a void in the football world beyond his accomplishments. While a Hall of Fame coach, Madden had become known more to generations of fans for his broadcasting career and renowned video game. The reason, above all else, that he thrived in the broadcast booth was because he wasn’t focused on being anything other than his authentic self. He jumped through the television because his enthusiasm, which made moments – big or small – matter to the audience. 

He didn’t have to have perfect verbiage or enunciation, because all that mattered was if John Madden said it, it was a big deal. It became a “if Madden cares about this, then we do” scenario. Knowing there will never be another John Madden, you never look for the next version. You simply accept that the soundtrack of your childhood is going to be based in memory, only to be heard again in your dreams like a 7-year-old envisions sugar plums dancing in their head the night before Christmas.  

Yet, often in life when you least expect it, a force of nature appears that can’t be ignored. 

With that comes the name often referred to as “The First Family of Football.”

Archie Manning and his two sons, PEYTON and Eli, had successful NFL careers as quarterbacks. While Eli has this week been nominated for the first time to the Hall, his brother Peyton was inducted in 2021. Peyton will be the focal point here.

Most fans are familiar with Peyton Manning the quarterback – the player who won two Super Bowls and holds the record with five league Most Valuable Player awards. The legend of his knowledge at the line of scrimmage is that of Bigfoot, so incredible it has to be exaggerated. Yet, unlike Bigfoot, we have real footage that proves otherwise, and lots of it. 

“Omaha” might be more well known as an audible than as a city thanks to Peyton. Sorry, Nebraska. 

That is why the perfect name for Peyton Manning’s production company was the aptly named Omaha Productions. Among other impressive projects, the Manningcast on ESPN2 during “Monday Night Football” has become must-watch television. Peyton and Eli host the broadcast with featured guests appearing throughout the game. 

I have tuned into their broadcast regularly since it began in 2021, completely fascinated by every drop of wisdom shared about the nuances of football. In particular, Peyton has become what was never expected to be seen again: Madden-esque. First and foremost, it is because of the No. 1 quality Madden displayed in the booth, which Peyton now displays in what seems to be his basement: He is nothing more, and nothing less, than his authentic self. He cares so deeply about quarterback play, clock management and identifying coverages that you feel his pain through the television when a timeout is not used correctly. 

The Manningcast is unique in format, being remote from home with no play-by-play announcer, but rather two elite football minds as duel analysts. No one has ever, before or after, worked the telestrator on a broadcast better than Madden. Watching a big run and then seeing the telestrator drawing of the play by an animated Madden with joy in his voice was groundbreaking. 

The crossover for the Manningcast would be when Kirk Cousins added an extra hitch at the end of a three-step drop, causing a late throw in the Falcons-Eagles game Sept. 16. You see Peyton vanish off of his screen with a “BRB” sign up (Be Right Back, for those taking notes) as he runs over to his piece of field turf to show the exact footwork to the audience. The excitement for the details rivals Madden’s, and it oozes through the screen to the audience in those moments. 

On top of that, both men are an advertiser’s dream. Their massive personalities make commercials almost as entertaining as their broadcasts. 

Whether it was Madden busting through a bar’s wall to talk about Light Beer from Miller, or it’s Peyton singing everything to the tune of Nationwide’s jingle, they're relatable humor was (or is) contagious. With their effortless humor, it is no surprise both Madden and Manning made “Saturday Night Live” appearances.

Whether spoken or not, it would be hard to imagine Madden didn’t have at least some influence on Peyton and his broadcasting ways, whether intentional or not. Regardless, it was evident the two men admired one another. 

In the “All Madden” documentary, Peyton gives a tribute to Coach Madden and talks about the first time the duo of John Madden and Pat Summerall called one of his games. While Peyton paid great respect to what it meant to have Madden call your game, it was just as poetic to hear Madden refer to a rookie Peyton Manning in that game as his “new favorite player.” 

Peyton also developed an episode of his show “Peyton’s Places” around the Madden Cruiser, the bus Madden used to travel the country to combat his deep-rooted fear of flying.

While drawing a comparison of the two, I want to be clear that it exists only because, while similar, they are both originals. It isn’t a mirror image or replica, but rather a spirit – a spirit that represents all that is right about the game of football: details, passion, excitement and fun. 

Speaking of spirits, I would like to end with a portion of Coach Madden’s enshrinement speech that encapsulated the beautiful mind of a legend:

“We always talk about immortality. Some of us think maybe we will be immortal, that we'll live forever. When you really think about it, we're not going to be.

But I say this, and this is overwhelming, mind blowing, that through this bust, with these guys, in that Hall, we will be forever. You know, when you think of that, it just blows your mind. It's forever and ever and ever.

You have to stay with me a moment on this one. This is a little goofy here. You're going to say, ‘There is old Madden being goofy again.’ But I started thinking about this after I got voted into the Hall of Fame. The more I think about it, the more I think it's true. Now I know it's true and I believe it.

Here is the deal: I think over in the Hall of Fame, that during the day, the people go through, they look at everything. At night, there's a time when they all leave. All the fans and all the visitors leave the Hall of Fame. Then there's just the workers. Then the workers start to leave. It gets down to there's just one person. That person turns out the light, locks the door.

I believe that the busts talk to each other. I can't wait for that conversation, I really can't. VINCE LOMBARDI, Knute Rockne, Reggie, WALTER PAYTON, all my ex-players. We'll be there forever and ever and ever talking about whatever. That's what I believe. That's what I think is going to happen, and no one's ever going to talk me out of that.

These guys are going, ‘Oh, no, hope I don't have to put up with his BS for an eternity.’ ”

If during one of those late nights among the busts the greatest game ever played breaks out, my hope is that the busts of John Madden and Peyton Manning find their way to a set of microphones, together, to narrate the moment in a way only those two can – and would.

Andy Phillips is a bestselling author and former NFL player who has written articles for the Pro Football Hall of Fame to reflect his love of the game. This piece is dedicated to the memory of John Madden.