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Daily Madden: Not Your Usual Pre-Game Speech

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - John Madden said the notorious pre-game speech by the suspended New Orleans coach was unlike anything he's every heard in the locker room.

Saints offensive coordinator Greg Williams instructed his players to injure 49ers players before the wild-card playoff game last December.

"That was kind of shocking," John told the KCBS morning crew. "It just kind of substantiated what (NFL officials) thought or said went on."

The former coach said he's been part of and witnessed numerous pre-game speeches.

"You kind of go over your goals. You know, 'we got to keep a guy on this guy, when we're doubling him we got to get a good bump on him on the line of scrimmage, we can't let him off, we have to knock the quarterback down, we have to gang-tackle the running back,' recalled Madden."It's usually those kinds of things, but not specific as to the injury part of it."

Madden said he had turned down a Saints' request that he speak to the team the night before their game against the 49ers at Candlestick.

"My gut instinct was 'no, I'm not going to do that. I don't do that, I've never done it with anyone else, so I'm not going to do it there.'" And when that thing came out, boy was I happy I wasn't around that at all." (6:45)

Listen to the John Madden segment live weekday mornings at 8:15 on KCBS All News 740 AM/106.9 FM.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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