If there was ever a year that the Madden curse needs to end it’s this year. Drew Brees has been the heart and soul of the New Orleans Saints, he’s also on my fantasy team in my keeper league. He has been one of the best quarterbacks in the league in the last decade. Before his time in N.O he played in S.D being slightly overshadowed by teammate LaDainian Tomlinson who was in the peak of his career. After being a huge part of the Saints Super Bowl victory and more importantly being very active in the community, Brees suddenly finds himself in the limelight. No one likes high-profile athletes more than EA Sports’ Madden series and it’s no shock to anyone that they announced yesterday that the cover athlete for Madden NFL 11 is none other than the leader of the Who Dat Nation, Drew Brees.
Earlier in the year EA announced that they would let the fans choose who will be the next cover athlete for Madden 11. I’m sure everyone in Minnesota, New Orleans and Indianapolis were all hoping that their star player wouldn’t get on the cover. At some point someone had to win, whether the results were skewed in some way to make sure Brees won we’ll never know. In recent years the year after a team wins a Super Bowl hasn’t gone that well. The last thing you want is your star QB having to deal with a curse that has taken down every athlete since the 2002 cover. Here is the breakdown of the athletes who didn’t believe in the curse.
- 2002 – Daunte Culpeper- In 2000 Daunte led the Vikings to the playoffs tossing 33 TD’s with only 16 INT’s and throwing for almost 4,000 yards. In 2001, the cover year, he only played 11 games and had 14 TD’s with 13 INT’s.
- 2003 - Marshall Faulk- In 2001 Marshall was out of his mind rushing for 1,300 yards with 12 TD’s plus 765 receiving yards and 9 Rec TD’s. In his cover year, 2002, he only started 10 games and ran for under 1,000 yards while totaling only 10 TD’s. He was never the same again.
- 2004 - Michael Vick- In 2002 Vick showed off his pure athletic talents by passing for almost 3,000 yards and 16 TD’s and rushing for 777 yards and 8 TD’s. Vick didn’t even make it to the regular season in his cover season when the curse hit. He broke his leg in 2003 in a pre-season game and missed the first 12 games of the year. The following season when asked if he believed in the curse he answered with an emphatic yes and warned future athletes to stay away from the cover.
- 2005 – Ray Lewis- The only defensive player to grace the cover of Madden. In 2003 he had 161 tackles with 6 INT’s. His cover year, 2004, Ray broke his wrist but only missed 1 game, seems like a success, yet he had no INT’s that season and the following season he only started 6 games before returning to dominance in 2006.
- 2006 – Donovan McNabb- In 2004 led the Eagles, with some help from T.0, to the Super Bowl. He threw for almost 4,000 yards with 31 TD’s and only 8 INT’s, his best stats of his career. So how did he follow up the Super Bowl season? In his cover year, 2005, McNabb tore his ACL while running out of bounds, earlier that year he suffered a sports hernia. He only played 9 games and still suffered from health issues the following season. Not to mention he was on the cover for the first “Next-Gen” Madden which was incredibly terrible.
- 2007 – Shaun Alexander- In 2005 Shaun ran for 1,880 yards with 27 TD’s while leading his team to the Super Bowl. In 2006, the cover year, he sustained a foot injury at his home which caused him to miss 6 games. The next year was also plagued by injuries and he promptly retired during the 2008 season.
- 2008 – Vince Young- In his rookie season with Tennessee Vince threw for 2,000 yards and 12 TD’s while rushing for 7. His cover year was plagued by small injuries which only held him out from one game but he threw for only 9 TD’s and didn’t run very well with only 3 TD’s while throwing 17 INT’s. The injuries finally caught up with him in 2008 when he only started 1 game and lost his starting gig even when he was healthy. The 2008 cover was supposed to go to L.T but he declined it. So what did L.T do that year? He ran for 1,400 yards and 15 TD’s .
- 2009 – Brett Farve - The year they thought he was out and had to reprint all the copies again after he put on the Jets uniform. In 2007 he had a typical Farve season throwing for 4,000 yards and 28 TD’s. The following season with the Jets he didn’t miss a game but he was sacked 30 times and threw 22 INT’s and TD’s. Later we would find out he was playing with an injured shoulder towards the end of the season that required surgery during the off season. Farve would later admit that his injury affected his performance during the last five games. In 2010 he was out of his mind in Minnesota tossing 33 TD’s and only 7 INT’s while throwing for 4,000 yards.
- 2010 – Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald - Most likely in an attempt to break the curse EA decided to put two people on the cover. Polamalu and Fitzgerald were arguably the best at their position in 2009. They met in the Super Bowl that didn’t disappoint. This year Polamalu was the unlikely cover athlete who sprained his MCL in the first part of the season only to come back to get hurt again in November. Fitz on the other hand did what he does best and didn’t get hurt at all. We’ll have to wait and see if the curse has any lingering affects like it has had with other athletes.
- 2011 – Drew Brees – Led the New Orleans Saints to their first Super Bowl in franchise history while being named MVP in the Super Bowl. He has become the face of the NFL. Not only is he a star player but his work in the community has almost overshadowed his performance on the field. So what’s in store for this year’s cover? If I was to put money on it I would say he is going to miss at least some games but I hope he is the one that can break the curse. C’mon he lives in New Orleans, there is no better place to find a cure for the curse than there!
In my mind the curse is real. Smart football fans believe in it. In San Diego the year L.T was to appear on the cover, one loyal group of fans created a website to stop him from accepting EA’s request. Everyone at EA Tiburon and the athletes themselves will always tell you there isn’t a curse but every single player that has been on the cover since 2001 has suffered injuries that ended or hurt their career. I think it’s safe to say I wouldn’t want a star from my team on the cover of Madden. If Brees were to fall victim to the curse it would be incredibly disappointing to the Who Dat Nation but also to every football fan. If I were in New Orleans right now I would be protesting to get him off that cover and maybe get Matt Ryan on it instead.
Even with Madden NFL 11 still many months away, Donny Moore from EA Sports sat down with Gamespot to discuss the Team Ratings for the upcoming game. Even though OTA’s aren’t yet over, somehow EA Sports has come up with which teams are the best and worst in the league. It should be no surprise that the New Orleans Saints come in as the number one rated team for Madden NFL 11 and the St. Louis Rams come in as the lowest rated team. However, there are some surprising teams that might be higher or lower than you might think. Check out the entire list below.
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