Are the curses real…?

The “Madden curse” refers to a well known video game by EA Sports, the game is NFL-based and named after former Raiders head coach and long time TV football analyst John Madden. It started in 1989 and the original name was “John Madden football” know it goes by the name “Madden NFL” since EA Sports signed a licensing deal with the NFL in 1993. From the beginning through 1999 the game has had John himself on the cover, starting with “Madden 2000” the designers a long with John Madden decided to let the fans pick the NFL stare that will appear on the cover, which is updated every year.

According to fans and some NFL players, the curse is real and it’s based on a pattern over the last few years in that whichever player signs a deal to be on the next cover of the famous game will ether suffer a serious injury or a very disappointing performance during the upcoming season.

I have put together a list of all the players that have graced the cover of the famous game since 2001. The year 2001 edition of “Madden NFL” was none other than the great Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George, who in the year prior to appearing on the cover of the game had led his team the super bowl , where they came up short against the St. Louis Rams.

Following the loose to the Rams George was picked to be on the first cover of Madden NFL as the stare.

But the following year was just one he would love to forget, George was hammered by injuries and had his rushing average sink to an all-time low…

The following year gracing the 2002 Madden NFL cover was Minnesota Vikings Quarterback Daunte Culpepper, he made an impressive NFL debut taking the Vikings to the NFC Championship game against the New York Giants.

They did not win, but it was considered a great season none the less.

However, after the popular game was released the Minnesota Vikings had one of their worst seasons going 4 for 7 before Culpepper suffered a knee injury that forced him to miss the final 5 games of the season ending in a horrible 5 and 11 record.

An amazing running back shined in the 2002 season, his name was Marshall Faulk who along with his brilliant talent brought the Rams to the super bowl twice in the last three years, he was voted as the next “Madden stare” to grace the game for the 2003 edition, but shortly after the following season began, Faulk was harassed with injury and had his first under 1000 rushing yard season after going the previous three at 1,300.

The Rams ended that season at a disappointing 7 and 9 record.

The 2004 cover belonged to a fears quarterback named Michael Vick, who ran as fast as a wide receiver and with the heart of a running back, he took his Falcons to the NFL playoffs as a wild card entry, but as all the rest, Vick suffered a fractured fibula in the pre-season of the following year and we all know his lengthy dog fighting record and bankruptcy issues…

Later cam a linebacker that changed the game forever, averaging 6 interceptions that year and appearing in the playoffs 3 out of the last 4 years, as well as anyone who had ever gotten hit by Ray Lewis remembers it.

2005 was the first time a defensive player was to appear on the cover of the famous game, the next season, Lewis averaged a career low 1 interception and spent a lot of time on the bench with injuries and the Ravens missed the playoffs and ended the season with a 6-10 record…

Donovan McNabb was a grade A quarterback reaching the playoffs five straight times including a super bowl appearance against the infamous New England Patriots in which the Eagles lost by 3 points.

After appearing on the 2006 “Madden NFL” cover, the superstar suffered a sport hernia in the first game had to get surgery and missed the final seven games of the season and finishing last in the NFC East.

The 2007 cover featured Shaun Alexander, a running back from the Seattle Seahawks who at that time was averaging just over 5 yards a carry and led the Seahawks to their first super bowl appearance, but 3 weeks into Alexander’s following season, he broke his left foot and missed the next 6 games, he was never the same again….

A new quarterback fresh out of Texas drafted #3 overall to the Titans was Vince Young, EA Sports decided to add him to the cover for the 2008 issue.

He got off to a slow NFL start, but was a stare in college, great runner and had a great arm, but little by little he started throwing more interceptions then touchdowns and eventually hurt his quadriceps in his leg and then started down hill, where he ended up getting traded to Philadelphia as a second string QB.

In 2009 the veteran quarterback Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers was the fan favorite to be the next stare, he had his doubts but in the end decided to agree and be the new face of the game.

All of a sudden after 16 seasons with the Packers, Favre and the organization just did not see eye to eye on anything, feuding begun and he was traded to the Jets lasted one season then was passed along to the Vikings where he finally decided to retire after playing two seasons with them.

Interesting enough, 2010 was a split year for the fans; they just could not make up their minds between the great wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and the infamous Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, so the creators of the game decided to place both on the cover, now Polamalu which we all know as the type of player that would play through just about anything as well as being the back bone of Pittsburgh’s defense only played 5 games after the game was released due to a knee injury… as a result, the Steelers missed the playoffs that season.

The interesting part is that Fitzgerald has not been affected; the season following the release he had 97 receptions, 1,092 yards, 13 TD’s and a Pro Bowl ticket.

Could it be, could the cures have come to an end! In 2011 after winning the super bowl XLIV. The Saints Drew Brees was selected to appear and so far he has kept his head above water.

Brees threw for the second-highest total yardage in his career 4,620, and was one touchdown shy of tying his career high at 33. But he did throw a career-high 22 interceptions.

The last person to appear on “Madden NFL” was the Browns running back Payton Hillis and so far this season has not been what neither he nor anyone else was expecting.

He is coming off an impressive 2010 year with 1,177 yards on the ground, another 477 through the air and a total of 13 touchdowns.

This year however is a different story, we are already in week 6 and Hillis has 273 total yards and 2 touchdowns, he has also been harassed by strip through and missed the game against the Dolphins.

Time will only tell just how far this curse will go, but one thing is clear, these players should think twice before they agree to be the next “Madden Stare” because it could end up costing them much more then they think.

For the people that don’t believe in curses and think this is all just one big coincidence…. Well, good luck finding a logical explanation to this story.

THEDUCK