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Cowboys Insider Hates 'Madden Thanksgiving' Overkill?

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Tony Fisher | Last updated Nov 30, 2024 2:28 PM ET

FRISCO - Week 13 of the 2024 NFL season brought us three Thanksgiving games. highlighted by the Dallas Cowboys' 27-20 win over the New York Giants.

Also on Thursday, the Detroit Lions edged the Chicago Bears (and got coach Matt Eberflus fired) and the Green Bay Packers beat the Miami Dolphins.

And one more thing: Once again, the NFL honored the late John Madden in each of the three games.

Madden, who passed away at age 85 exactly three years ago this weekend, is a legendary coach-turned-broadcaster who is also the name sake of one of the most popular video games ever. To football fans of a certain age, his name is synonymous with this holiday, which now includes "turducken'' (a chicken stuffed into a deboned duck stuffed into a deboned turkey) being served to the stars of the games ... as this week at AT&T Stadium it was Micah Parsons and DeMarvion Overshown who got to feast.

All six teams wore patches honoring Madden. A special Madden coin - heads is a Madden silhouette, tails is a turducken - was used for the coin toss at each game. There were tributes to the NFL legend on all three of the broadcasts and on the playing fields as well.

And to one "Grinch''-like Cowboys insider, it is all a bit too much. Via CowboysCountry.com's Richie Whitt, with his 35 years of experience covering the NFL and the Cowboys ...

"This won't be very popular, but aren't we way overrating John Madden? I mean, he was a colorful coach who won a Super Bowl and the kids love his namesake video game. But does an announcer he used a teleprompter to circle a dude's butt, said "Wham!" to break down plays and was a fat guy who likes "Turkducken" really warrant a national holiday?

"Not saying I don't like him,'' Whitt continues, "but commemorative coins? Patches on jerseys? A whole weekend of football devoted to him? Maybe I'm being a Grinch to match CeeDee Lamb's yellow/green shoes, but ... Just a little much.''

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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