Tebow, Miller in Madden NFL 13 Cover Voting

To help them select the Madden NFL 13 cover player, EA Sports is turning to the fans.  EA will select two players to represent each team in a vote-off which will lead to the final thirty-two man bracket.

Once the voting is down to thirty-two players, fans will vote in player face-offs until the Madden NFL 13 cover player is chosen.  Voting begins on March 7th on SportsNation’s Facebook page.

EA’s Madden Facebook page announced on Tuesday that quarterback Tim Tebow and linebacker Von Miller will be the two players representing the Denver Broncos in the voting. Since 2001, the Broncos have never had one of their players grace the cover of the popular video game.

Before the Super Bowl, Tebow won Madden Bowl XVIII and he was the cover of EA’s NCAA 11 two years ago.  With Tebow’s massive following, there is a good chance that he could receive enough votes to become the next Madden cover boy.

Then again, Tebow fans might think twice before voting for him.  In fear of the Madden Curse, many Gator and Bronco fans have encouraged fellow fans to not vote for Tebow or Miller. 

When asked about the curse, the folks at EA usually note that when a player has a career year, it is highly unlikely for him to have back-to-back career seasons, which explains player’s performance drop offs after gracing the cover of Madden.  As for the injuries, those just happen in football.

But is there more to it?  Since 2001, ten players have been on the cover and a majority of them have seen jinx-like occurrences the following season.

• After Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George was the 2001 cover boy, the Titans lost in the Divisional round of the playoffs and George’s performance declined as he averaged no more than 3.4 yards per career the rest of his career.

• A year later, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper was named the 2002 cover athlete.  The following season, Culpepper threw 23 interceptions, broke the record of most fumbles in a single season and the Vikings limped to a 5-11 season.

• The 2003 athlete was St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk.  After Faulk made the cover, his performance declined and multiple knee injuries ultimately ended his career two years later.