DETROIT – Lions fans I hope you didn't buy your season tickets just yet. There appears to be some debris on the road to the Super Bowl. Oh wait, is that ... no, it couldn't be ... it's Calvin Johnson's ACL. It has blown up into a million pieces all over I-75 South. What's that? Oh, it's just another blown tire in the left lane. Wow, that was scary.
That's just a little paranoia. The paranoia that comes with the Madden Cover. I don't believe in superstitions. But here are the facts that support the believers:
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SLIDESHOW: Look back at Madden NFL covers
1999 Cover: Garrison Hearst - Injury: Broken Ankle in playoffs
2000 Cover: Barry Sanders (original cover) - Retired ... yeah, you know the story
2001 Cover: Eddie George - First sub 1,000 yard season of his career
2002 Cover: Dante Culpepper - Injury: Season ending knee surgery
2003 Cover: Marshall Faulk - Rams went from Super Bowl team to 7-9
2004 Cover: Michael Vick - Injury: Broken leg in preseason
2005 Cover: Ray Lewis - Ravens miss playoffs for 1st time in 4 seasons (this one's a stretch)
2006 Cover: Donovan McNabb - Injury: Sports hernia
2007 Cover: Shaun Alexander - Injury: Broken foot
2008 Cover: Vince Young - Injury: Quadriceps injury
2009 Cover: Brett Favre - He sucked
2010 Cover: Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald - Polamalu's injuries left him out for season (played in 4 games) - Fitzgerald - curse does not apply
2011 Cover: Drew Brees - curse does not apply
2012 Cover: Peyton Hillis - Injuries and half the production of his previous season
2013 Cover: Calvin Johnson - ???
So there's a look at the curse. Do you believe? Do you think it's a long string of coincidences? Do you care at all? Do you believe they put a man on the moon? Say something!
As Nate Burleson said, "if any guy can break the curse, it's Calvin. This dude is a monster, so, I mean, he's strong enough to break tackles, he can break a curse".
Let's hope so ... if you believe in that sort of thing.