Madden is one of the best-selling and most popular video games of all-time.
And when we play it, we usually aren’t paying close attention to the coaches on the sidelines. We’re much more concerned with how good a given year’s cover athlete is, whether that player will succumb to or defy the Madden Curse, or who the highest rated players are and what new features are in the latest version.
But if you’ve played Madden over the past 15 years or so, chances are you’ve either played with or against the New England Patriots. And chances are you’ve noticed that something is missing — or rather, someone.
Someone blunt, someone too smart for their own good, someone silly, and someone who gives the same answers over and over again in press conferences.
That’s right. Longtime New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick isn’t in the Madden video games — and he hasn’t been for some time.
The reason is simple: EA Sports has a licensing deal with the National Football League Coaches Association to use the likenesses of coaches in their games. And Belichick is not a member of the NFLCA and hasn’t granted EA Sports permission to use his likeness. It’s worth noting that Belichick’s mentor, Bill Parcels, was also not a member of the NFLCA.
So, Belichick hasn’t appeared in the game since the mid-2000s. Below is a screengrab of a rare video game depiction of Belichick in Madden 2002.
With @EAMaddenNFL being released today, let's all remember that there was a time when Bill Belichick actually was in the game. pic.twitter.com/6jfX0SI4wg
— Pats Pulpit (@patspulpit) August 25, 2020
And since EA Sports doesn’t have the right to use Belichick’s likeness, they’ve had to come up with some creative stand-ins and fake names over the years. Devoted Madden players might remember Patriots coach Chad Masters, or Patriots coach Griffin Murphy. Sometimes, Madden just named the Patriots play-caller as “NE Coach.”
For Madden 24, New England’s head coach is Peter Gaffney, who absolutely does not resemble Bill Belichick.
BILL BELICHICK IN MADDEN 24 pic.twitter.com/G55W4YGRV9
— RBT (@SamuelBrownRBT) August 15, 2023
In 2012, Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel asked Belichick why he wasn’t in the game, and he gave the most-Belichick response, simply saying: “I don’t know.”
Belichick — who has won six Super Bowls as a head coach, more than anyone else — did admit in 2021 however that he has played the game, telling the Athletic: “Yeah, I haven’t played in quite a while. I know when my kids were growing up, they would play it and I’d watch them and they’d beat me.”
And he also had tremendous respect for the man the game is named after, John Madden, who died in 2021.
“John was on top of the game. Not really any weaknesses.”
Legendary coaches John Madden and Bill Belichick talk about the mutual respect they have for each other in this exclusive preview moment from ‘ALL MADDEN’, the new original documentary premiering Christmas Day on FOX. pic.twitter.com/NvC0kLurLr
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 19, 2021
