The Curse of the John Madden

EA Sports has narrowed down their next victim for the 2011 Madden cover to 3 players; Front-runner Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints, Reggie Wayne of the Indianapolis Colts, and Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings. What exactly is the Madden Curse you ask? Prior to 1999 the video game series of Madden NFL Football features John Madden himself on every cover. It was during the 1999 season that a tradition of putting a prominent player from the previous years season on the cover began. That is when all the trouble started:

Madden 1999

Garrison Hearst was the original Madden cover boy. He had a great regular season but broke his ankle in the divisional playoff game vs the Falcons. Hearst would miss two full NFL seasons to start off what has become an annual phenomenon.

Madden 2000

Barry Sanders is pictured in this version of Madden and retired before training camp even began.

*Madden 2001

Eddie George escaped the curse unharmed as he rushed 403 times for 1,509 yards while playing in every game.

Madden 2002

Daunte Culpepper was the league leader in TD passes in 2000 with 33. After being placed on the cover Daunte threw for only 13 TDs and 14 INTs. He also missed the final 5 games of the season with a knee injury.

Madden 2003

Marshall Faulk had rushed for 1,000 yards in 7 of his first 8 seasons as a pro. After being on the cover Faulk never hit the mark again and missed 2 games with an ankle injury.

Madden 2004

Michael Vick broke his leg in a pre-season game. He would miss the first 11 games of the season.

*Madden 2005

Ray Lewis got away for the most part but he failed to get an INT for the first time in his career and injured his wrist in week 15.

Madden 2006

Donovan McNabb missed the final 7 games of the season with a hernia.

Madden 2007

Shaun Alexander rushed for 1880 yards in the previous year. His first 3 games produced only 187 yards and he went on to break a bone in his foot causing him to miss 6 games in 2006.

Madden 2008

Vince Young suffered a knee injury in week 3 of the 2007 season. He would be replaced by backup QB Kerry Collins who would take over as starter for the rest of the year.

Madden 2009

Brett Favre played for the Jets in his first season away from the Green Bay Packers. Favre led the Jets to a fast start (8-3) but saw the season fall apart as he threw 2 TDs and 9 INTs in the last 5 games. Favre admitted to having an arm injury after the season but he played through the pain.

Madden 2010

Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers sprained his MCL in the first half of the Steeler's first game and would go on to miss 13 games in the 2009 season. Madden 10 feautured 2 athletes on the cover, the second being Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald who escaped the curse.

Maybe you don't believe in curses and think that being on the Madden cover is no big deal. It is hard to ignore the fact that in 12 versions of the Madden game we have seen such consistent injury and decline in performance from players that appear on this cover. I can just picture Madden sitting there poking the cover with pins and needles voodoo doll style. He must have been busy in 01 and 05. Maybe this jinx is just a 12 year coincidence and players in the NFL are just subject to off-seasons and injury. No one knows for sure but taking a look at the track record...

Drew Brees may want to give Eddie George a call.

Detroit and the 1st Round

Hello everybody. I'm here to discuss the Detroit Lions and the NFL draft. In recent history the Lions have a miserable draft record... and that is putting it kindly. Under former GM Matt Millen, a series of disastrous picks and free agent signings doomed the Lions. The downward spiral culminated two years ago in the now infamous 0-16 season. Since it is mathematically impossible to get worse than 0-16, the Lions had only one direction to go. After a 2-14 season last year the Lions appear to be breathing again at the very least. Lets take a quick look back at the Matt Millen era before moving on to this month's draft.

Millen was the GM from 2001 to 2008. Eight catastrophic seasons during which the Lions assembled a jaw dropping record of 31 wins and 97 losses. Of the 45 draft picks the Lions made from '01-'06, three of them are currently on the active roster. Some of those noticeably absent include such high picks like Charles Rogers (who appears to be in trouble again), Mike Williams, and Joey Harrington. In 2005 alone, a mere five years ago, the Lions had six picks in the draft. Two of those players are now on other teams, and four of the Lions' selections in that draft are no longer in the league. That includes the Lions' first round pick and the 10th overall selection, WR Mike Williams, who was drafted ahead of such NFL mainstays as Demarcus Ware, Shawne Merriman, and Aaron Rodgers. Other wide receivers selected after Williams include Mark Clayton, Roddy White, and Vincent Jackson. In other words, poor choices were made.

In 2009 things seemed to start to turn around for the Lions (as much as a 2-14 season can be a turnaround). New GM Martin Mayhew used the first overall pick in the draft to net the Lions a gutty and talented franchise QB in Matt Stafford. The rest of the draft also provided players like safety Louis Delmas, who started for much of last year and will be expected to contribute again in 2010. Now with seven picks, including the #2 overall, the Lions are looking to improve through the draft.

The Lions have been fairly busy during the offseason, acquiring Kyle Vanden Bosch, Nate Burleson, Shaun Hill, OL Rob Sims and others. The Lions are essentially set at QB, TE, and WR, but just about everything else is a need. With the Saint Louis Rams all but locked in to QB Sam Bradford with the first overall pick, most are projecting the Lions will draft Ndamukong Suh, the DT out of Nebraska. Suh is widely considered the best player in the draft and fills a pressing need for the Lions. This seems like a slam dunk right? Well, not quite.

There are several rumors coming out of Lions central about a possible trade with the Washington Redskins for their leviathan of a DT Albert Haynesworth. This is attractive for a few reasons. First of all Haynesworth used to play for current Lions coach Jim Scwartz when they were with the Tennessee Titans. The trade for Haynesworth would allow the Lions to trade down a few picks so some other team could climb into a position to take Suh, or Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen. Not only would the trade down provide the Lions with a few more picks at their disposal, but ideally, it would allow them to take the #2 guy on the board for them, OL Russell Okung out of Oklahoma State. This would be quite a coup for the Lions to snag not only the highest rated offensive line prospect in the draft, but also get one of the top players in the NFL at the defensive tackle position. It will also be difficult to pull off.

Another thing to watch for later round picks is the secondary. The Lions have been mentioned as being interested in the talented but troubled defensive back Adam 'Pacman' Jones. If the Lions grab a few secondary players with their later picks, it could mean their interest has waned. They have already added former Carolina Panthers CB Dante Wesley through free agency.

It will be interesting to see how the next month shakes out personnel wise. But finally, after almost a decade of hand wringing, I can say that the Detroit Lions are moving on up.