Madden Curse
The Madden Curse, also known as the Madden Cover Curse, is a speculation involving the video game series Madden NFL, stating that the season a player appears on the cover of Madden NFL, that player will be cursed with either an injury or poor performance.
Dorsey Levens was the first player featured on the cover, after previous versions included an image of John Madden. Levens suffered an unsuccessful season, resulting in him being cut the following year. Running back Eddie George was featured on the cover the following year. In the playoffs he bobbled a pass which was intercepted for a touchdown. Marshall Faulk appeared on the cover and his season resulted in low rushing numbers. Ray Lewis and his team failed to make the playoffs in his season appearing on the cover, and was injured the following season. Daunte Culpepper, Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, and Shaun Alexander all have suffered injuries in their season appearing on the cover. These performances and injuries resulted in speculation of a curse.
The "Madden Curse" has evolved into a much-reported phenomena, with several news and sports media outlets referring to it as a phenomena on par with the fabled Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx.
Allegedly cursed
Barry Sanders, Madden NFL 2000
- The first NFL player to be on a Madden NFL cover was Barry Sanders in 1999, for Madden 2000. He shared the cover with the then-customary picture of John Madden. However, a week before training camp began in 1999, Sanders abruptly retired - ending his career and leaving the Detroit Lions without their star running back of the previous 10 years. Sanders' part in the curse is debated because he is not pictured alone on the box, and he had willingly retired.
Dorsey Levens, Madden NFL 2000
- Dorsey Levens was featured on the 2000 cover that was released in PAL regions. After rushing for 1,034 yards in 1999, he gained only 224 yards from scrimmage in 2000. Ultimately, Levens was cut by the Green Bay Packers in 2001, and retired, as a Packer, in 2004, as a journeyman who had 1-season stints with the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants.
Eddie George, Madden NFL 2001
- Eddie George, then of the Tennessee Titans, who graced the Madden NFL 2001 box, was the next 'cursed' player. After averaging 3.9 yards per carry in his first five seasons and rushing for over 1,300 yards in each one, he averaged only 3 yards per carry and rushed for career lows of 939 yards and 5 touchdowns in the 2001 season. For the rest of his career, he never averaged more than 3.4 yards per carry, but did rush for over 1,000 yards twice and scored 14 touchdowns in 2002.
Daunte Culpepper, Madden NFL 2002
- Former Minnesota Vikings star quarterback Daunte Culpepper appeared on the Madden NFL 2002 cover, and the Vikings struggled to a 4-7 record until Culpepper was shelved with a season-ending knee injury.
Marshall Faulk, Madden NFL 2003
- Running back Marshall Faulk of the St. Louis Rams, who was on the Madden NFL 2003 box, suffered an ankle injury, missing five games. He never broke through the 1,000 yards rushing mark for the rest of his career.
Michael Vick, Madden NFL 2004
- Very shortly after Madden 2004 was released featuring Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick on the cover, Vick was injured during a preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens, suffering a fractured right fibula. Vick played in only the last 5 regular season games, finishing with just 585 yards passing and 4 touchdowns. The Atlanta Falcons missed the playoffs and were already out of contention by the time Vick returned from his injury. The "curse" forced the Atlanta Falcons to finish the season with a record of 5 wins and 11 losses, a stark contrast to the team's 9-6-1 record the season prior.
Ray Lewis, Madden NFL 2005
- Madden 2005 featured Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens. He broke his wrist, an injury that kept him out of the last game of the regular season. It was also Lewis' first season without a single interception, after posting a career-high 6 the previous year - although admittedly, interceptions are a secondary statistic for linebackers (Lewis still finished amongst league leaders in tackles - a much more relevant statistic for linebackers). The Baltimore Ravens also failed to make the playoffs that season (2004), after winning their division the year before. Furthermore, in Week 6 the of the 2005 season, Ray Lewis' season was ended by an injury.
Donovan McNabb, Madden NFL '06
- The Philadelphia Eagles' star quarterback Donovan McNabb was on the cover of Madden NFL 06. Throughout the 2005 season, McNabb had a highly-publicized feud with his teammate, wide receiver Terrell Owens (who was, coincidentally, the cover athlete for rival Sega Sports' ESPN NFL 2K5, though no "Curse" had been associated with that series of games). Also, in the first game of the regular season, McNabb took a hit to the chest from the helmet of Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Chad Lavalais. After the game, it was revealed that McNabb had a sports hernia that needed surgery.[1] Refusing to have the required season-ending surgery while the Eagles (who had made the Super Bowl the previous season) still had a chance to make the playoffs, McNabb played in discomfort and pain throughout the season. In the tenth game of the season, McNabb re-injured his groin when shoved to the ground by Dallas linebacker Bradie James while McNabb was attempting to tackle Dallas Cowboys defensive back Roy Williams, who was returning an interception for an eventual game-winning touchdown. McNabb did play the next series but was ineffective and then decided to pack it in for the rest of the season. On November 21, 2005, McNabb, on the advice of his doctors, opted to have season-ending surgery for his sports hernia; the Eagles had been eliminated from playoff contention and finished the year with a 6-10 record, due to an enormous amount of injuries and locker room problems.. [2] [3]On November 19, 2006 in a game versus the Tennessee Titans, when he rushed to go out of bounds, Titans DE Kyle Vanden Bosch tackled him. He grabbed his right knee and was immediately tended to by trainers. He was carted of the field on a stretcher. McNabb had torn the right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). He will be out for the rest of the 2006 season, and possibly some of next season as well.
Shaun Alexander, Madden NFL '07
- Prior to this year, Alexander had never missed a full game in his entire seven-season NFL career. Madden NFL 07 cover-athlete and reigning NFL MVP Shaun Alexander of the Seattle Seahawks suffered an injury: a non-displaced foot fracture in his fourth metatarsal from a chipped bone in his left foot which he received during the first game of the season against the Detroit Lions. Alexander decided to play through the pain and claimed his foot didn't bother him again until the week 3 game against the New York Giants. However, Alexander gained less than 100 yards during each of the first three games, his first such streak in the last two seasons. The Monday following Seattle's victory, Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren said that a bone scan revealed Alexander sustained a "small crack" and "non-displaced fracture" on a non-weight-bearing bone in his foot. He was originally thought to be out for only 3-4 weeks. Alexander returned to the starting lineup in week 11 against the San Francisco 49ers, gaining only 37 yards on 17 carries in a loss. However, in Week 12, in a Monday Night home game against the Green Bay Packers, Alexander rushed for 201 yards on 40 carries, averaging a significant 5.025 yards per carry. In addition, Alexander's record of most touchdowns per season lasted only one year, as his 2005 record was broken by Ladainian Tomlinson in 2006. [4]
Alexander rushed for 896 yards (3.6 yards per carry) in the 2006 season, as opposed to 1880 yards (5.1 yards per carry) in the 2005 season.
Criticisms
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While it appears that the victims to the curse have had off seasons after performing exceptionally well, many regard this as simple regression towards the mean.[5] That is, these featured athletes performances are so outstanding that in fact they should not be expected to repeat them. Many factors contribute to the lesser (though not necessarily poor) performance of these athletes, such as injuries, which are treated more as expectations than surprises in the sport. Also, defenses usually key in on a player who had an exceptional season prior. Finally, the idea of having a "best season" entails that only one season will be a best season. More explicitly, one cannot have two best seasons and any given best season cannot be beaten.
Another issue in some cases may be the matter of workload. Both Eddie George in 2000 and Shaun Alexander in 2005 recorded career highs in carries. This high workload contributed to their impressive totals in yards and touchdowns, but the additional wear and tear this workload entailed may have contributed to their injuries in the following seasons.
References
- ^ McNabb's sports hernia no laughing matter from MSNBC.com, posted 11 October, 2005.
- ^ "McNabb has history with 'cursed' products". ESPN. 2005-06-17. Retrieved 2006-07-21.
- ^ "Cover and out? McNabb latest Madden star to fall". ESPN. 2005-11-21. Retrieved 2006-07-21.
- ^ "Alexander a victim of Madden curse?". The Mercury News. 2006-09-25. Retrieved 2006-09-30.
- ^ Curses from Pro-Football-Reference, posted 29 September, 2006.