November 23, 2023, 8:39 a.m. ET
Every story has two sides. For the NFL on Thanksgiving, it’s heads, John Madden; Tails, six-legged turducken.
These are the two pictures presented to the team captains at the coin toss for Thursday’s games.
It is part of the league’s second annual Thanksgiving tribute to the late broadcaster and coach, a holiday in which he played 20 games over the course of his career.
In honor of #MaddenThanksgivingThe coin toss before each Thanksgiving game uses a special coin that features the silhouette of John Madden on one side (heads) and a six-legged turducken on the reverse (tails). pic.twitter.com/pcFQ0Zf5Jq
– NFL (@NFL) November 22, 2023
“There’s no place I’d 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 fit together: Turkey, the family, the tradition, football. … And we have everything today.”
The league’s tribute during Thursday’s tripleheader includes jersey patches featuring Madden’s silhouette for all players and “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration” stencils on the sideline field.
Additionally, the Madden player of the game will receive a $10,000 donation from the NFL Foundation on their behalf to the youth or high school football program of their choice.
Madden began the tradition of presenting a turkey leg to the star of the game in 1989, when Philadelphia’s Reggie White received it after a win over Dallas.
The following year, Madden handed the winning streak to Dallas’ Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman and joked that he wished he had more for the offensive linemen. A barbecue owner in Texas took on the challenge and created a fake six-legged turkey.
No one could explain how to cut a turducken like John Madden#MaddenThanksgiving pic.twitter.com/iIwRK6IGo3
– NFL (@NFL) November 22, 2023
This eventually evolved into a turducken, a chicken stuffed into a boneless duck and stuffed into a boned turkey.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.