New England Patriots: Breaking down the Madden Curse
By Nick Ziegler
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will be on the cover of Madden 18. What effect has the Madden curse had on players?
While many football fans love Madden, most don’t like to see their favorite player on the cover. For New England Patriots fans, they will be worried about having Tom Brady on the cover this season.
After being suspended for the first four games of the season in 2016, Brady was a man on a mission last season. He had arguably the best season of his career, as he set the single-season record for touchdown to interception ratio.
In the playoffs, Brady helped orchestrate the best comeback in Super Bowl history, as the Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons. Coming into this season, Brady will be seeking another Super Bowl.
This offseason, the Patriots have done an excellent job creating a roster that might be even better than last season. For Brady, he will have the same starting offensive line as last season with an explosive new wide receiver in Brandin Cooks. In addition to Cooks, Brady will also have a healthy Rob Gronkowski for 2017.
Is the Madden curse really a thing? Cover stars see an average PFF grade drop on 8.0 in the year they are on the cover... pic.twitter.com/hQPrEwuDBi
— PFF (@PFF) May 13, 2017
Even though Brady is coming off a great season, the Madden curse has certainly had an impact on most cover athletes. As shown above, most players have down season and get injured compared to their season before being placed on the cover.
Besides Richard Sherman, the other nine cover athletes had down seasons according to Pro Football Focus grades. While there is clearly a drop for players, that could also be because of players who are on the cover are usually coming off of career years.
Last season, Brady registered the highest grade ever for Pro Football Focus with a 99.3 grade. It is going to be hard for Brady to match that in 2017. The most important thing for Patriots fans will be to have Brady stay healthy.
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For Gronkowski last season, the Madden Curse resulted in him missing half of the season due to injuries. Brady made it very clear that he doesn’t believe in curses. However, it will be hard to expect him to match the career-year of 2016.