Drew should be afraid...very afraid.

Curse or No Curse?
You be the Judge.

With the NFL season 13 days away, there are plenty of questions yet to answered. One of the most intriguing ones is how long will Drew Brees’ body hold up. Brees doesn’t have an alarming injury history but his likeness gracing the cover should be alarming for Saints fans. There have been 11 NFL players on the cover of the John Madden Football game since 2001, and 9 of them have been injured the corresponding season (Daunte Culpepper and Larry Fitzgerald were not).

First on the list is Eddie George in 2001. Eddie George was arguably the toughest running back in the NFL from 1996-2000. He had over 1000 yards in each of those seasons, and never averaged less than 3.7 yards per carry. Then he decided to grace the cover of Madden 2001! George started the 2001 season with a hampered foot as he was recovering from off-season toe surgery and furthered his ailments in week 4 with a high ankle sprain. George’s toe ailments eventually ballooned into full blown turf toe and led to the only full season of his career in which he didn’t reach the 1000 yard milestone. He was out of the league 3 years later.

The next victim of the Curse of the Madden Cover was QB Daunte Culpepper. While Culpepper did not get injured in 2002, it was by far his worst statistical season as a starter. Culpepper threw 23 interceptions to only 18 touchdowns that year, and threw for his worst completion percentage (60.7%).

After Culpepper, Marshall Faulk took his shot at the cover (2003) and drew basically the same results. Prior to 2003, Faulk was considered the most versatile offensive talent in the NFL. He was a great rusher who had the hands of a receiver and could also block in the passing game. However, 2003 began his rapid decline. Before 2003, Faulk had never failed to play in at least 13 games during a NFL season. In 2003 however, he was forced to miss 5 games due to an ankle injury which snapped his streak of 7 straight 1000 yard seasons. The next season, Faulk played 14 games but failed to crack the 1000 yard barrier again and after starting only 1 game in 2005, he was essentially out of the league by 2006.

Following Faulk was the electric and polarizing Michael Vick. In 2004 Vick was a young QB known for making plays with his legs that frequently earned him a place on Sportscenter. Capitalizing on this popularity, the minds at EA Sports (developers of Madden Football) picked him to grace the cover of Madden 2004. Vick promptly broke his leg in the preseason and didn’t see game action until week 13.

In 2005, the seemingly indestructible Ray Lewis graced the cover and he also bit the dust. Lewis missed 10 games of the 2005 season and had his lowest tackle (46) total of his otherwise stellar career.

In 2006 Donovan McNabb assumed the Madden mantle and not only injured his groin early in the season, but tore his ACL 10 games into the season.

2007 is perhaps the most telling case. In 2005-06, Shaun Alexander broke the NFL single season touchdown record by rushing for 27 TDs and was the NFL’s most valuable player. That stellar performance gained him the cover of Madden 2007. Prior to the start of the season, Alexander broke his foot and missed the first six games of the season and was never the same back. He retired after the 2008-09 season.

2008 was Vince Young’s turn. Young only missed one game in 08, but threw 17 interceptions to only 9 touchdowns.

2009 was supposed to be the year the curse was broken. Brett Favre was retired so how could it affect him. Then Brett decided to change his mind (AGAIN) and became the starter for the NY Jets. While Favre did not miss a game in 09, he did injure his bicep in week 12 and struggled mightily down the stretch ultimately costing the Jets a place in the playoffs.

As previously stated, Larry Fitzgerald did not succumb to the curse in 2010 but that was a dual cover with Troy Polamanu. Polamanu injured his MCL in the first game of the season and proceeded to injure his PCL upon his return in week 10.

Brees’ doesn’t appear to believe in the curse, but 10 consecutive coincidences seem to be unlikely. All I can say…is Good Luck!