Garbage?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madden_Curse
Garrison Hearst (1999)
Garrison Hearst was the first player to ever be featured on a Madden cover, appearing on Madden NFL '99. Hearst's 1998 season was the best of his career, rushing for 1570 yards and seven touchdowns. He led the San Francisco 49ers to the playoffs, but on the first play of the game versus the Atlanta Falcons,
he suffered a bad ankle break. He would not play again until the 2001 season.
(It is worth noting that there are two versions of the Madden NFL '99 cover, one with Hearst and one with John Madden.)
Barry Sanders and Dorsey Levens (2000)
Barry Sanders shared the cover with the then-customary picture of John Madden on Madden NFL 2000. 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 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, after playing as a journeyman who had 1-season stints with both the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants.
Eddie George (2001)
Eddie George, then of the Tennessee Titans, who graced the Madden NFL 2001 box, is often said to be the next 'cursed' player, even though in the year he was on the cover, he had career highs in yardage and touchdowns. Curse advocates point to the 2001 season following his appearance on the cover, during which he averaged only 3 yards per carry and rushed for career lows of 939 yards and 5 touchdowns. For the rest of his career, he never averaged more than 3.4 yards per carry.
George's curse can be argued to have started the year he was on the cover because in 2000-2001 AFC Championship game George had a costly fumble that lost the game for Tennessee. He also fumbled 7 times during the 2000 regular season, losing a career high 4 fumbles.
(It is worth noting that curse advocates ignore the season following the appearance on the cover for some of the other listed players, notably Vick who had career bests in a number of categories in 2004 after being on the Madden 2004 cover).
Daunte Culpepper (2002)
Former Minnesota Vikings star quarterback Daunte Culpepper appeared on the Madden NFL 2002 cover after throwing for nearly 4,000 yards and 33 touchdowns while rushing for 470 yards and 7 more scores in the 2000 season. But Culpepper struggled with turnovers in the first 11 games of the 2001 season, throwing 13 interceptions and only 14 touchdown passes. A knee injury ended his season in the 11th game. Culpepper followed 2001 with two average seasons before a stellar reemergence in 2004. However, the following season, Culpepper struggled as the Vikings posted a 2-5 record to start the 2005 season. In the seventh game, Culpepper was carted off after suffering a potentially career-ending knee injury. He would later be traded to the Miami Dolphins. Culpepper started the 2006 season as the Dolphins' starting quarterback but his mobility was limited and he was benched after 4 subpar games. He recently went under the knife for a second surgery and his return to the Dolphins is questionable.
Marshall Faulk (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 did amass nearly 1,600 total yards and 10 touchdowns in limited time in 2002; however, it was a steep decline from his 2,000 yard and 21 touchdown campaign of 2001. He never broke through the 1,000 yards rushing mark for the rest of his career.
Michael Vick (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 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 (2005)
Madden 2005 featured Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens, the first defensive player ever to appear on the cover of a Madden game. 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. The Baltimore Ravens also failed to make the playoffs that season (2004), after winning their division the year before. Furthermore, in Week 6 of the 2005 season, Ray Lewis' season was ended by an injury.
Donovan McNabb (2006)
After leading the Eagles to the Super Bowl in 2004, the Philadelphia Eagles' star quarterback Donovan McNabb was on the cover of Madden NFL 06. Throughout the 2005 season, McNabb had had a highly-publicized feud with his teammate, wide receiver Terrell Owens. During the 2005 season, McNabb suffered a sports hernia in the first game of the season against the Atlanta Falcons. Even though it needed surgery McNabb continued to play through the injury.[1] In the tenth game of the season, McNabb re-injured his groin when he threw an interception that was returned by Roy Williams of the Dallas Cowboys, and subsequently decided to have season-ending surgery for his sports hernia. [2] [3]
Shaun Alexander (2007)
Prior to the 2006 season, Alexander had never missed a full game in his entire seven-season NFL career. In the 2006 season, however, Madden NFL 07 cover-athlete and reigning NFL MVP Shaun Alexander of the Seattle Seahawks suffered a fracture in his 4th metatarsal in his left foot which he received during the first game of the season against the Detroit Lions. Alexander attempted to play through the injury, but was relatively ineffective. After the Seahawks third game, it was announced that his injury was worse than originally thought, and Alexander missed the next six games.[4] Alexander rushed for 896 yards (3.6 yards per carry) in the 2006 season, as opposed to 1,880 yards (5.1 yards per carry) in the 2005 season. 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.
Vince Young (2008)
???????
because I remembered we don't want our guy to be on the cover of Madden because of the curse.
)
