NFL‘s Thanksgiving slate and John Madden go together like turkey and stuffing. One simply cannot exist without the other. And amidst the numerous Madden celebrations taking place today, one small detail might be the coolest of them all. For each of the three Thanksgiving Day games, a special John Madden commemorative coin will be used to decide who will start with the football.
2023 NFL Thanksgiving’s Special John Madden Coin
Earlier in the morning on Thanksgiving, the NFL revealed that a special John Madden coin would be used ahead of the games today. The coin will have a silhouette of Madden representing “heads,” while the infamous six-legged turducken will represent “tails.”
In honor of #MaddenThanksgiving, a special coin featuring a silhouette of John Madden on one side (Heads) and a six-legged turducken on the reverse side (Tails) will be used for the coin toss before each Thanksgiving game. pic.twitter.com/pcFQ0Zf5Jq
— NFL (@NFL) November 22, 2023
It is part of the league’s second annual tribute to the late broadcaster and coach on Thanksgiving, a holiday on which he called 20 games over his career.
Madden was one of the strongest advocates for Thanksgiving Football and one quote in particular represented how passionate he was about the sport.
“There’s no place that I would rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game,” Madden said at a Chicago Bears-Detroit Lions Thanksgiving game in 1997. “There are just certain things that go together: the turkey, the family, the tradition, football…. And we have it all today.”
This year, the three games we get to watch include the Green Bay Packers at the Detroit Lions (12:30 p.m. FOX), the Washington Commanders at the Dallas Cowboys (4:30 p.m. CBS), and the San Francisco 49ers at the Seattle Seahawks (8:20 p.m. NBC).
MORE: NFL Turkey Leg Award — Explaining How John Madden Started a Thanksgiving Tradition
The NFL on Thanksgiving goes all the way back to 1934 when the Detroit Spartans hosted the world champion Chicago Bears. Just under two years later, the late John Madden was born.
Unfortunately, Madden passed away in December 2021. Since his passing, the NFL began honoring him on Thanksgiving with the John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration. This Thanksgiving, Nov. 23, will be the second annual edition.
This year, the event will feature a multitude of elements, including a special NFL-produced “Madden Hallmark” on each broadcast. The hallmark will convey what Thanksgiving meant to him in his own words.
Some other elements include tributes to Madden throughout each game on and off the field as well as a coin featuring a silhouette of Madden on one side and a six-legged turducken on the reverse side. A patch featuring a silhouette of Madden will also be included on the jersey of each player at all three games.
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