2000: Barry Sanders - With John Madden in the forefront of the cover image, Barry Sanders graced the background as he appeared to be stiff-armming some helpless Chicago Bear defender to the turf. Sanders had just come off a 1998 campaign in which he amassed almost 1800 total yards and moved into 2nd place all time on the career rushing yards list. But the best player in Detroit Lions history decided to call it quits before the '99 season kicked off, thus beginning the Madden Curse.
2001: Eddie George - It's a little far-fetched to call Eddie George a victim of the Madden Curse. After all, in 2000, he accumulated just under 2000 totall yards and scored 16 times. However, George did have a costly fumble in the AFC Divisional playoff game which cost Tennessee the game. Since that point, George had been injury prone and would average less than 3.4 yds/carry for the remainder of his career.
2002: Daunte Culpepper - In 2000, Culpepper threw for 33 TDs on the strength of 3937 passing yards. He ran for another 7 TDs. And he ultimately led the Vikings to the NFC Championship game that year. In 2001, the year he graced the cover of Madden football, he led the Vikings to only a mere 4-7 record before missing the remainder of the season with a knee injury. In those 11 games, he had thrown 13 picks and only 14 TDs.
2003: Marshall Faulk - Marshall Faulk's 2002 season was certainly hampered by a lingering ankle injury. For the first time in six years, he had failed to rush for 1000+ yards. For the first time in five years, he had failed to gain 2000+ total yards from scrimmage. He wouldn't achieve either of these milestones again.
2004: Michael Vick - Vick, who burst onto the scene as one of the most promising quarterback prospects ever, was the cover boy for Madden 2004. In his 2002 season, he flashed all the tools that had football people everywhere raving. In 2003, one day after Madden hit stores nationwide, Vick broke his leg in a preseason game. He would only play in five games the entire season while posting a less than stellar 69.0 QB rating. The Falcons went 2-10 without him that year. And, of course, Vick would go on to become a dog fighter, animal hater, and villain.
2005: Ray Lewis - Ray Ray's 2004 season was not completely decimated as in other examples. However, he did miss the final game of the season due to injury after playing in all 16 of the Ravens games in 2003. He also failed to record an interception in 2004, the only time that he has failed to do so in his career. In fact, he was only responsible for one turnover in 2004 where in 2003, he forced eight.
2006: Donovan McNabb - In 2004, McNabb finally led his Eagles to a SuperBowl appearance on the strength of 34 total TDs and a 104.7 QB rating. (For the record, he would lose to my Patriots.) Then, McNabb agreed to grace the cover of Madden 2006. That year (2005), he suffered a sports hernia in Week 1 and led the Eagles to a 4-5 record before reinjuring the hernia, opting for surgery, and missing the final seven games of the season.
2007: Shaun Alexander - Shaun Alexander was the NFL's MVP for the 2005 season. He put up ridiculous numbers: 1953 total yards and 28 total TDs. He also powered the Seahawks to their first ever SuperBowl appearance. In 2006, he fractured his foot and, consequently, missed six games. He struggled in the ten games he did play, carrying for over 100 yards only twice and scoring only seven times. He failed to top 1000 yards.
2008: Vince Young - Well, in Week 6 of this NFL season, Vince Young left the field with a left quad injury. His status for this week is uncertain. One thing is for certain, though...the Madden Curse is looming!!
IT'S TRUE! GET OUT OF THERE DEMARCUS!!!
EDIT: I copied this from some website...which is why 2008 is not updated. (We know how things went down with Vince Young though)
