The Depths of the Madden Curse

What once was reserved for a single player, the Madden Curse has seemed to out done itself this year. Whether it’s the new CBA or Al Davis’ death, something has taken the curse to the next level. Let’s take a look at all the strange things that have happened.

We’ll start with the man of the hour: Peyton Hillis.

I’ve followed the Peyton Hillis saga for a long time now. I remember him running for 300 yards on 20 consecutive runs up the middle against my high school team. I remember him threatening to transfer after his sophomore year because they wanted to move him to Linebacker. I remember him threatening to transfer after his junior year because we were giving the ball to Darren McFadden and Felix Jones instead. I remember rumors of a “quota” system, which made sure that Peyton got a certain number of touches each game.

So it’s no surprise to me when Peyton decides to start sitting out football games because he doesn’t think he gets paid enough. As Chris Johnson showed, anytime you have a chance to pay a running back after having a career/unrepeatable year, you have to do it.

But usually that’s when Madden leaves these guys alone. They miss a few games, have a terrible fantasy season, start misbehaving, and essentially disappoint.

But how do you explain the rest of these?

Peyton Manning/Sean Payton – One Peyton apparently wasn’t enough. The other two famous Pe/ayton’s had to fall as well. Manning’s injury essentially ended their season and made Curtis Painter the star of late night football this year. Sean Payton was bold enough to try to play through the pain, and look what happened (with that game essentially handing Andrew Luck to, you guessed it….the Colts. To replace Manning.) This is out of control.

Darren McFadden and Felix Jones – The curse also made it’s way to Peyton’s college teammates. Darren’s having an incredible season, but they’ve ruined this season, and the next 5 seasons with possibly the worst trade of all time. Felix Jones on the other hand can’t stay healthy, and plays with Tony Romo. Poor kid.

Tim Tebow – Finally, the curse seems to have landed on our dear friend Timothy Tebow. I guess the Madden gods wanted to make sure we’d never see a white fullback on the cover again. Despite his comeback win against the Dolphins (because he’s the only QB that could ever come back against the Dolphins), he proved once and for all that he’s the absolute worst quarterback in the history of football. Looks like God doesn’t care about football afterall.