If you’re a football fan, there’s hardly a chance you haven’t heard of the “Madden” curse.
The apparent and infamous jinx goes like this: The player featured on the cover of EA Sports’ annual NFL video game is doomed to encounter something vile: a decline in play, usually, or maybe even a serious injury. Superstition at its finest. The San Francisco 49ers are one team that surely hopes the curse isn’t real, with reigning Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey tabbed as this year’s cover star.
EA itself has publicly denied the existence of the curse, which tells you everything you need to know about its popularity. Others, like cover athletes themselves, have panned the annual hullabaloo as a myth. And yet, whether you genuinely fear your favorite team suffering at the hands of “Madden” or find it all ridiculously silly, the curse has never quite gone away. Or has it?
Let’s review the fate of all 25 of the cover athletes since 2000, using the years from the “Madden” titles (2024’s game is “Madden 25”), to find a verdict:
George went on to rush for more than 1,500 yards in his cover season, but he also lost a career-high number of fumbles, coughed up the ball in the Titans’ season-ending playoff game and never averaged more than 3.4 yards per carry for the rest of his career.
Verdict: Cursed
After throwing 33 touchdowns and going 11-5 as a first-time starter in 2000, Culpepper took a nosedive during his cover season. Injuries cost him six games, he fumbled 16 times, threw just 14 touchowns compared to 13 picks and went 4-7 in his starts.
Verdict: Cursed
2003: Rams RB Marshall Faulk
The Hall of Famer entered his cover season having logged five straight 1,000-yard seasons and three straight 1,300-yard campaigns. But in 2002, Faulk broke down, missing almost a half-dozen starts. He never topped 1,000 yards again.
Verdict: Cursed
In the game, Vick was unstoppable thanks…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/does-madden-nfl-cover-curse-still-exist-a-look-back-at-25-years-of-covers-after-christian-mccaffrey-nod/
Author : Cody Benjamin
Publish date : 2024-06-11 15:13:59
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
