One thing I remember being thoroughly impressed with at the time was the intro, where EA Sports had a demo with ultra-fantastic graphics for 1997. Showed the Patriots and Packers, and I remember imagining how awesome it would be if the actual game looked that good. Fast-forward 20 years and that's nothing, but it was fun to imagine at the time.
I remember playing this when I couldn't get a date, which meant that I played it quite often. Even with the crummy graphics, the game was a lot of fun, since it was so simple. The next year, EA started with the polygon graphics, but Madden NFL '98 is a nice blast from the past.
And now that I'm married, I always have a date.