Tom Brady claimed his fifth Super Bowl victory in a dramatic comeback against the Atlanta Falcons.
For many fans, the victory cemented Brady’s legacy as the greatest quarterback of all time, eclipsing Joe Montana’s and Terry Bradshaw’s four Super Bowl wins.
However, Brady’s quest for six could be off to a rocky start.
Tom Brady has tempted fate by agreeing to grace the cover of the Madden NFL 18 video game.
From ESPN:
The day that many New England Patriots fans have long feared has finally arrived: Tom Brady is on the cover of the upcoming “Madden NFL 18” video game.
That may seem strange to those unfamiliar with the supernatural qualities of EA Sports’ annual football game. So, for the unacquainted: The so-called “Madden Curse” often befalls the game’s cover star, resulting in diminished performance or injury.
While some Patriots fans are in fear of this fate for their quarterback, one person is not — Brady himself.
“There’s no such things as curses, it’s a total myth,” Brady said in a video posted to his Facebook page on Friday. He goes on to play a dangerous game with fate by smashing a mirror and walking under a ladder, likely petrifying an already superstitious Boston fan base.
On one hand, if anyone could break this curse, it would be Brady, who many consider to be the greatest quarterback of all time. But on the other, if you see Patriots fans throwing salt over their shoulders and looking at Jimmy Garoppolo’s 2016 game tape, you’ll know why.
Here are just a few of the worst hard-luck cases of the ‘Madden Curse’.
From Fox Sports:
What a disaster the 2001 season was for [Daunte] Culpepper, who was coming off of a Pro Bowl year in which he led the Vikings to an 11-5 record. The year he was on the cover, though, he played just 11 games before suffering a knee injury that ended his season. He had just 14 touchdown passes and won only four of his 11 starts. He continued to struggle in 2002, going 6-10 with a league-high 23 interceptions.
[Shaun] Alexander had one of the best seasons by a running back in NFL history in 2005, leading the league in carries (370), yards (1,880), and touchdowns (27 – NFL record at the time). He followed that up with a terrible campaign in which he played just 10 games. Alexander broke his foot in Week 3 before returning in November. He wasn’t the same after that injury, though, and understandably so. The curse hit him hard.
[Donovan] McNabb had the worst season of his career in 2005 after he was named the Madden cover star, beginning with trouble in “paradise” between he and Terrell Owens. His season ended in Week 9 when he suffered a groin injury that landed him on injured reserve. He was having a solid year before the injury, but that’s the way the Madden curse works.
[Michael] Vick couldn’t even reach the regular season in 2003 before the Madden curse hit him in a big way. He suffered a fractured fibula in the preseason, forcing him to miss the first 11 games of the year. He would return in Week 13, but his play was lackluster. Vick finished with just 585 passing yards and four TD throws with three interceptions. This was the first real sign of the Madden curse as we know it.
The Madden curse bit [Rob Gronkowski] right out of the gate. He missed the season’s first two games due to a hamstring injury and simply wasn’t himself in the next two weeks, either. Once he finally got healthy and was playing at a high level (averaging 21.6 yards per catch), the injury bug bit again. He suffered a back injury later in the season that required surgery and landed him on injured reserve.
Brady recently released two videos where he mocks the ‘Madden Curse’, including one which shows him breaking a mirror and walking under a ladder.
Brady’s own teammate is the latest victim of the curse, so perhaps Brady shouldn’t cavalierly tempt the football gods.