“Don’t worry about the horse being blind...just load the wagon.” John Madden
I’ve been thinking of John Madden a lot recently. Having had the extremely privileged opportunity to work for the iconic coach and broadcaster and the CBS Electronics team during the summer of 1993, it was the ultimate learning experience for me in terms of understanding three things:
Let me take you back to the afternoon in August where I sat in utter awe at John Madden’s kitchen table on one of the upper stories of the Dakota building in New York City overlooking the upper reaches of Central Park.
Topics of discussion:
Here are the NFC West players whom I believe John Madden would pick as his favorites:
* HC: Sean McVay, LAR. John Madden was the youngest coach to win 100 games. He was able to accomplish that historic feat in 10 seasons. With 12 wins this season, Sean McVay would have 100 wins in 9 seasons (although * seasons were 14 regular-season games when Madden coached). Madden was 33 when the Raiders shocked the NFL world by promoting him to HC in 1969. McVay was 30 when he was hired by the Rams as the youngest head coach in NFL history.
John Madden’s career record --- 10 seasons: 103-32-7 regular season, 9-7 post-season.
Sean McVay’s career record --- 8 seasons: 80-52 regular season, 8-5 post-season.
Note: John Madden never had a losing season, and he continues to hold the highest winning percentage among NFL head coaches who have coached at least 100 games.
* QB: Brock Purdy, SFO. In yesteryears Coach would have picked Matthew Stafford, but Brock Purdy’s rise from pick #262 in the 2022 draft that resulted in him beating out the 49ers prize 2021 #3 pick Trey Lance, for whom the franchise gave up 3 first round picks --- is an NFL Cinderella story of epic proportions. Purdy is the classic underdog and Coach sure loved classic underdogs.
Plus, look at how...