Madden Curse preys on NFL's top talent

NFL's prime players injured after appearing on 'Madden' boxes.

By Eric Rees

Published Sept. 15, 2009

Correction appended

Whether you believe in hexes and voodoo, it's hard to ignore one of today's modern magic: the dreaded Madden Curse.

For those who aren't aware of the greatest threat to human kind since the swine flu, the Madden Curse is the series of interesting coincidences between the players appearing of the front of EA Sports' football game, "Madden," and those players being hurt soon after appearing on the cover.

Let's take a trip back in time to 1998: true to the pattern "Madden" games follow, "Madden NFL 99" was just released. Most will remember John Madden himself graced the cover — but there was also an edition of the game that featured Garrison Hearst, and it all went downhill from there. Hearst suffered a gruesome ankle break when he tried to spin away from a defender during a playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons. The rest, as they say, is history.

"Madden 2000" once again had John himself but there was a recognizable Barry Sanders in the background. Barry heard the injury train coming and escaped an undesirable fate by retiring in the 1999 off-season.

Eddie George, the star of the "Madden 2001" cover seems to be the exception to the curse and mysteriously escaped an ill-fate, but it does stand to be noted the 2001 season was George's only season with less than 1,000 yards and only three yards per attempt, both career lows for the legendary half back.

"Madden 2002" was released in September 2001 and Dec. 2 of that season, cover star Daunte Culpepper suffered a knee injury against the Steelers, missing the final five games.

Not only did injuries catch up to Marshall Faulk after he appeared on the cover of "Madden 2003," he ran for 500 fewer yards from the 2001 to 2002 season, thus beginning the downfall of the Rams.

"Madden 2004" featured the now infamous Michael Vick. If you put aside the dog fighting and jail time, Vick also broke his leg and missed the first 11 games of the season after being on that box.

If anyone's been a winner in this whole curse business, it would be the cover boy of "Madden 2005." The ferocious middle line backer of the Baltimore Ravens, Ray Lewis, who racked up 146 tackles netting him his seventh Pro Bowl appearance. But Lewis is the exception, not the rule.

In 2006, the Eagles poster-boy became the Madden poster-boy and ended in disaster. In week 11, after appearing on the cover of the video game, Donovan McNabb tore his ACL as he was jumping out of bounds and, consequently, ended his season.

Seattle Seahawks half back Shaun Alexander broke his foot after being posted up on the "Madden 2007" cover. All hope was not lost for, in the same game, Alexander set a team record with his 102 touchdowns.

When Vince Young announced he'd grace the cover of "Madden 2008," people immediately said he would fall victim to the ruthless curse. Not only did he miss a game during the season due to injury, but he's also no longer the starting quarterback in Tennessee.

Madden's comeback into greatness was predicted for 2009, so EA decided to put someone who was also coming back on the cover, the future Hall of Famer Brett Favre. He missed no games, but played terribly in the later half of the season and annoyed a generation of football fans with his retirement flip-flopping.

And that brings us to this year. "Madden 2010" is the first Madden to feature two players on the cover — and will probably take them both down. Troy Polamalu is already sidelined — he tore his MCL in the first game back against the Titans and is expected to miss three to six weeks.

My advice to Larry Fitzgerald: Retire while you can. You had a good season last year and proved your dominance as a wide receiver and we would all hate to see you go down. Just because you weren't hurt in the first week doesn't mean it won't happen. The curse is out there, and it's waiting to claim more victims.