Incredible Clip Of John Madden Comparing Tom Brady To Joe Montana Resurfaces After Nearly 20 Years
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- In New England, John Madden's voice has forever been attached to the birth of the Patriots' dynasty. When the Patriots got the ball with 1:21 left in a tie game in Super Bowl XXXVI, it was Madden's voice that suggested the team with the inexperienced quarterback ought to take a knee and play for overtime. And it was that same voice minutes later that said in a stunned and impressed tone, "What Tom Brady just did ... gives me goosebumps."
That moment rightfully got a rebirth in December and January, after Madden passed away at age 85. Football fans the world over mourned his passing but celebrated his long life in football.
One clip that didn't resurface during that time has recently popped up on social media, and it's every bit as good -- if not better -- than the famous clip from Super Bowl XXXVI vs. the Rams.
This clip comes from the season opener in the 2002 season, aka the very next NFL game following that Super Bowl win for the Patriots. It was the opening of Gillette Stadium, and the Patriots trounced the Steelers (a staple of the Brady era) by a score of 30-14. (It was only that "close" due to Steelers touchdown at the expiration of regulation.)
In the clip, Brady is running the Patriots' offense in the third quarter, with the Patriots leading 17-7. And though Madden fully understands how it will be interpreted if he says what he wants to say ... he goes ahead and says it anyway. Here's what he said:
"I hate to say what I'm going to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. Tom Brady and his calmness reminds me of Joe Montana. And I'm not saying Tom Brady is Joe Montana. But I'm saying the way he gets back there and makes everything look so effortlessly and easy, he reminds me of Joe Montana."
Brady then stood in the face of pressure and delivered a pass to Cam Cleeland for a moderate gain.
Veteran play-by-play man Al Michaels followed up with Madden, allowing the color commentator some more room to expound upon the Brady-Montana comparison he had just made. Madden said this:
"Yeah, I mean, you can't say, OK, the guy in his second year, this guy's making him Joe Montana, who's a Hall of Famer and one of the all-time greats. But we talked about Tom Brady being from Serra High School, so that's right in the 49ers' area. He was a big fan of Joe Montana, Steve Young and the 49ers. And just the way, I mean, he's not struggling, you know? He's not bouncing around there and his feet going. I mean, he's just back there and calm and reading and getting rid of the ball. And that part of him reminds me of Joe Montana."
Right on cue, Brady threw a touchdown pass to Deion Branch (who was making his NFL debut), which put the Patriots up 24-7.
Madden curbed his opinion at the time, because suggesting that a third-year player and second-year starter was on a level with Joe Montana in any way could have been considered insane at the time. Of course, we now know that Brady has surpassed Montana and then some, winning seven Super Bowls to Montana's four, winning 35 playoff games to Montana's 16, throwing more than twice as many touchdowns and winning more than twice as many games.
Madden couldn't have seen all of that coming ... but he certainly saw something special.
The video's fun to watch almost 20 full years later. And it serves as yet another reminder that Madden could see and feel something from Brady very early on in the quarterback's career.
