Tom Brady Reacts to Death of NFL Icon John Madden

John Madden died on Tuesday morning, and his legacy made an impact on today’s NFL players, including Tom Brady. When the news of Madden’s unexpected passing was announced, Brady went to his Instagram story to reflect on the best memory he had of the former NFL head coach and broadcaster. 

“John called our first Super Bowl,” Brady wrote on his Instagram story. “He was always so good to me. RIP to a legend of our game. My condolences and love to the Madden family.” Brady is talking about when he led the New England Patriots over the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl back in 2002. It would be one of the 11 Super Bowls Madden would call in his career. Brady would go on and play in nine more Super Bowls and he looks to play in another one this year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

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Brady is also connected to Madden through the Madden NFL video game franchise. Brady has been on the cover of Madden NFL three different times in his career with the first being on Madden NFL Mobile for the 2017 Season. He was also on the cover of Madden NFL 18 and the current edition, Madden NFL 22 with Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs. Brady also appeared on the Madden documentary All Madden, which aired on Christmas Day.

Brady wasn’t the only NFL figure to pay tribute to Madden. “Nobody loved football more than Coach. He was football,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “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.”

Along with being a broadcaster and video game star, Madden was a very successful NFL head coach, leading the Oakland Raiders (now Las Vegas Raiders) for 10 seasons (1967-1978). Madden won 103 games in his 10 seasons and led the Raiders to a Super Bowl title in 1976. He never had a losing season and reached the league or conference title game six times. At the time, Madden was the youngest head to reach 100 regular-season victories and still has the most wins in Raiders history.