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The Madden Curse has been pretty healthy for the past few years and this year is no different. Early on it looked like Brett Favre would bring the New York Jets a taste of post-season glory. After the dust settled the Jets didn’t make the playoffs and Favre may be looking to retire. Unlike previous years of the Madden Curse, Favre didn’t suffer injuries. Instead, Favre and the Jets suffered from a late season slump. After opening the season at 8-3 controlling the AFC East they couldn’t finish the season on top of the re-surging Miami Dolphins. The Madden Curse seemed in full effect in Favre’s final season game against the Dolphins where he threw 3 interceptions and looked to have injured his arm/shoulder trying to make a tackle after turning the ball over. In the final seconds of the game he even took a huge lick trying to extend the final play of the game.

I guess this season the Madden Curse wasn’t as obvious since Favre didn’t officially get injured but one thing for sure is that his pride was damaged and his tarnished legacy will remain in the records of the Madden Curse. Favre may not even play another NFL game which will also most likely be attributed to the curse. The Jets performance this year also led to the firing of head coach Eric Mangini.

Notes:

• I still can’t believe Favre was chosen for the Madden 09 cover. He is old and was actually retiring when the cover player was announced. EA even made new covers after his trade to the Jets became official. True, the Green Bay Packers did look strong the year before but there are still claims that it was all a huge publicity stunt and EA knew Favre wasn’t going to retire.
• The Madden Curse is almost full-proof considering whichever player is chosen for the cover only has a 1 out of 32 chance of actually winning the Super Bowl. Unless the chosen cover player actually wins the Super Bowl there will always be a claim that the Madden Curse hampered the player in some shape or form. It seems even if the cover player were to get deep into the playoffs it would not be enough to claim the Madden Curse wasn’t in effect.
• Most players do get hurt and miss a couple games a season. The Madden Curse didn’t lighten up when Vince Young (2008 cover) was injured and missed one game.
• The Madden cover athlete is usually chosen on the previous year’s performance and popularity, not on how well the player is estimated to do in the upcoming season.