The straight, by-the-book, play-by-play guys were a great foil for John’s great sense of humor. Good humor needs a straight guy for a foil.
I never cared for Madden as a color analyst. His commentary usually consisted of “Boom, pow, look at the grass stuck in that guy’s helmet!”
Hank Stram was my man. He’s record of calling the Super Bowl winner beforehand was 40-6-2. He would say “Watch for the H back in the flat coming over from the left side” and that’s exactly where the pass would go.