It’s only the first Sunday of the NFL season, and already the talks have begun that the Madden Curse is rearing its ugly head. The 2010 version of the video game dynasty dawns both the Steelers’ ball-hawking safety Troy Polamalu and Arizona Cardinals’ stand-out wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald on its cover, opposite each other as it played out in last year’s Super Bowl.
The murmur started when Tennessee’s Algae Crumpler landed awkwardly on Polamalu’s left knee while he was in pursuit of a blocked field goal attempt, an injury that takes three to six weeks to recover from according to Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin.
The supposed curse has claimed a number of players over past decade due to injury and decline in production, most notably Daunte Culpepper (2002), Marshall Faulk (2003), Michael Vick (2004), Donovon McNabb (2006) and Shaun Alexander (2007).
Vince Young didn’t fair too well either in 2008 when an injury kept him out of one game and he eventually lost the starting job to Kerry Collins. Reports recently surfaced that 2009’s poster-boy, Brett Favre, was slowed down by a shoulder injury down the stretch last season, now being investigated by the league because it wasn’t documented on an injury report.
Though injuries are a constant in football because of the game’s violent nature, a sidelined Polamalu fuels the growing feeling that posing for the Madden cover is a recipe for a sub-par season ahead. Until a player comes along, maybe Fitzgerald this year, and completely disproves the notion of a curse, it is hard to refute that it has become a negative correlation.
Losing Polamalu will weaken the league’s best and most consistent defense, but shouldn’t keep them from prominent fantasy relevance. Opposing teams will have an easier time moving the ball for the next month or so, but look for the veterans on the team to pick up the slack like they did holding the Titans, an elite-rushing team, to 36 total rushing yards without Polamalu the entire second half of Thursday’s bout.
For Polamalu owners in In-Depth Player leagues (IDPs), this could be quite a blow depending where you drafted him and what kind of depth you have at the position. Never a constant fantasy star because of his lower than average tackle clips, Polamalu looked like the best player on the field racking up six solo tackles before getting hurt late in the second quarter. Look for him to give his owners a steadier dose of tackles this season when he is able to suit up again.
As for the curse, weather it is real or a big coincidence is irrelevant to Steelers’ fans who where holding their breath until Tomlin’s post-game diagnosis, just pleased that Polamalu isn’t lost for the entire season with a ligament tear in his knee.
