Here is what I have noticed with cover athletes for Madden since Madden has come out in 1988: There has always been an upgrade or some notable enhancements due to who is on the cover. For instance, if there was a running back, the enhancements would be a new engine or new "cut" button or something to make the runners to be improved. When there was a defensive player, ie Ray Lewis, there was an enhancement on defensive players that would be added to the game play. It seems that the developers have gotten lazy in upgrading the enhancements. I have been loyal and purchased Madden EVERY SINGLE YEAR, either for me or my sons, hoping to see improvements on game play. The only consistent thing I have seen, through the evolution of Madden, is graphics have improved. This is something that should be a given. As technology improves, so should the graphic cards improve on the game. If you look at it from a marketing standpoint, give the people what they pay for. Don't take your consumers for granted. Put out a quality product when you had different games competing against Madden. Remember when 2K had a football game that sold for $20???? People were willing to buy a game for $20 just to see how it compared to Madden. Why do you think, NBA Live (basketball) was phased out. 2K put out a better product and now the face of basketball on video games. They have gotten lazy as well and left the door open for EA to try to make a comeback on the NBA platform. Stop looking for ways to charge the consumers. If you put out a quality product, the $$$$$ will come.
jimshredder said:It seems like everytime a RB is on the cover of madden, they have an awful year
CMC continued the trend this year
Do we think Saquan breaks the curse?
2003 - Faulk - followed up with his worst season, then retired
2007 - Shaun Alexander - traded to wash, then retired
2012 - Peyton Hillis - traded, then retired
2014- Barry Sanders - had already retired, doesnt quality
dont forget about Eddie George, he had a down year too. not to mention they all played a total of 24 games
Bubba said:Here is what I have noticed with cover athletes for Madden since Madden has come out in 1988: There has always been an upgrade or some notable enhancements due to who is on the cover. For instance, if there was a running back, the enhancements would be a new engine or new "cut" button or something to make the runners to be improved. When there was a defensive player, ie Ray Lewis, there was an enhancement on defensive players that would be added to the game play. It seems that the developers have gotten lazy in upgrading the enhancements. I have been loyal and purchased Madden EVERY SINGLE YEAR, either for me or my sons, hoping to see improvements on game play. The only consistent thing I have seen, through the evolution of Madden, is graphics have improved. This is something that should be a given. As technology improves, so should the graphic cards improve on the game. If you look at it from a marketing standpoint, give the people what they pay for. Don't take your consumers for granted. Put out a quality product when you had different games competing against Madden. Remember when 2K had a football game that sold for $20???? People were willing to buy a game for $20 just to see how it compared to Madden. Why do you think, NBA Live (basketball) was phased out. 2K put out a better product and now the face of basketball on video games. They have gotten lazy as well and left the door open for EA to try to make a comeback on the NBA platform. Stop looking for ways to charge the consumers. If you put out a quality product, the $$$$$ will come.
2k has always had better more realistic gameplay - for all sports
EA has always been more arcade style gameplay
2000 John Madden
2001 Eddie George
Had a good season, not affected
2002 Daunte Culpepper
Only had 1 good season his whole career, probably wasn't affected
2003 Marshall Faulk
Was drated in 1994, had 1000 all purpose yards and 10+ TDs. Not affected
2004 Michael Vick
The most dynamic qb of his era, went 12-4 and was good this year. Went to jail 2 years later. Not Affected
2005 Ray Lewis
Torn Hamstring, affected
2006 Donavan McNabb
Sports Hernia, affected
2007 Shean Alexander
Foot Injury and out of the league in 2008, affected
2008 Vince Young
Knee Injury limited to 3 games, affected
2009 Brett Favre
Best year of his career statistically, not affected
2010 Fitzgerald vs Polamalu
Polamalu was first team all-pro, fitzgerald made a pro bowl, neither affected
2011 Drew Brees
MVP season, not affected
2012 Peyton Hillis
Was overrated to begin with, his best season with browns was 2010. He actually played 2012 with the chiefs. Not affected, just not good.
2013 Calvin Johnson
first team all pro, not affected
2014 (Madden 25) Barry Sanders or the Special Edition had Adrian Peterson
Peterson played 1 game this year and was suspended while being investigated for child abuse. affected?
2015 Richard Sherman
Second team all-pro, not affected
2016 OBJ
second team all pro, not affected
2017 Gronk
first team all-pro, not affected
2018 Tom Brady
made a pro bowl, had a good year, played all 16 games, not affected
2019 AB
Crashed out offseason before, traded in the offseason, cut, played one game with patriots. affected or CTE?
2020 Mahomes
MVP seasons, not affected
2021 Lamar Jackson
missed 4 games due to injury. was 7-5, maybe affected maybe not.
2022 Brady & Mahomes
Mahomes mvp season, brady had a good season on a bad bucs team.
2023 John Madden
2024 Josh Allen
MVP season, not affected
2025 CMC
played in 4 games. affected
2026 Barkley
TBD
TLDR: In conclusion, in the 25 years of the madden cover only 5 players have missed significant time the season that they appear on the cover of the game. Most are RBs who had a significant workload the prior year. Were they injured because of the madden curse? or were they injured because the nfl is a tough physical sport where injuries are 100% guaranteed.
the stretch from 2005-2008 had me believing early on but there's more evidence to prove that it isn't really a thing. Saquon still gonna have a down year by his standards though because after 378 touches he's gonna be a bit worn down and the eagles would be smart not to give him 350+ more touches again. Hopefully no serious injuries though
TheNickSix said:2000 John Madden
2001 Eddie George
Had a good season, not affected
2002 Daunte Culpepper
Only had 1 good season his whole career, probably wasn't affected
2003 Marshall Faulk
Was drated in 1994, had 1000 all purpose yards and 10+ TDs. Not affected
2004 Michael Vick
The most dynamic qb of his era, went 12-4 and was good this year. Went to jail 2 years later. Not Affected
2005 Ray Lewis
Torn Hamstring, affected
2006 Donavan McNabb
Sports Hernia, affected
2007 Shean Alexander
Foot Injury and out of the league in 2008, affected
2008 Vince Young
Knee Injury limited to 3 games, affected
2009 Brett Favre
Best year of his career statistically, not affected
2010 Fitzgerald vs Polamalu
Polamalu was first team all-pro, fitzgerald made a pro bowl, neither affected
2011 Drew Brees
MVP season, not affected
2012 Peyton Hillis
Was overrated to begin with, his best season with browns was 2010. He actually played 2012 with the chiefs. Not affected, just not good.
2013 Calvin Johnson
first team all pro, not affected
2014 (Madden 25) Barry Sanders or the Special Edition had Adrian Peterson
Peterson played 1 game this year and was suspended while being investigated for child abuse. affected?
2015 Richard Sherman
Second team all-pro, not affected
2016 OBJ
second team all pro, not affected
2017 Gronk
first team all-pro, not affected
2018 Tom Brady
made a pro bowl, had a good year, played all 16 games, not affected
2019 AB
Crashed out offseason before, traded in the offseason, cut, played one game with patriots. affected or CTE?
2020 Mahomes
MVP seasons, not affected
2021 Lamar Jackson
missed 4 games due to injury. was 7-5, maybe affected maybe not.
2022 Brady & Mahomes
Mahomes mvp season, brady had a good season on a bad bucs team.
2023 John Madden
2024 Josh Allen
MVP season, not affected
2025 CMC
played in 4 games. affected
2026 Barkley
TBD
TLDR: In conclusion, in the 25 years of the madden cover only 5 players have missed significant time the season that they appear on the cover of the game. Most are RBs who had a significant workload the prior year. Were they injured because of the madden curse? or were they injured because the nfl is a tough physical sport where injuries are 100% guaranteed.
the stretch from 2005-2008 had me believing early on but there's more evidence to prove that it isn't really a thing. Saquon still gonna have a down year by his standards though because after 378 touches he's gonna be a bit worn down and the eagles would be smart not to give him 350+ more touches again. Hopefully no serious injuries though
It mainy impacts Running backs - other positions appear safe
jimshredder said:It mainy impacts Running backs - other positions appear safe
Not because they are on the cover of a video game, but because they took 350+ hits the year prior and that adds up to getting hurt.
jimshredder said:It seems like everytime a RB is on the cover of madden, they have an awful year
CMC continued the trend this year
Do we think Saquan breaks the curse?
2003 - Faulk - followed up with his worst season, then retired
2007 - Shaun Alexander - traded to wash, then retired
2012 - Peyton Hillis - traded, then retired
2014- Barry Sanders - had already retired, doesnt quality
cmc is js prone to be injured, faulk and alexander were js getting up in age ,payton was never good a one season wonder i dont really believe that the madden curse really did anything to the RBs that were mentioned it was going to happen either way for its own reasons