Many believe that there are no such things as curses, but the fact of those players on the cover beg to differ.
Year injured |
Player on cover |
Year on cover |
player stats |
Team record when injured |
Curse |
2008 |
Vince Young |
2007 |
2,459 yards, 9 TD and 17 INT 395 Rushing Yards 3 TD |
10-6 |
Young was injured just one game of the season at Houston due to a quadriceps injury. |
2007 |
Shaun Alexander |
2006 |
187 Yards, 2 TD, 2.9 YPC |
3-0 First Place |
Shaun Alexander missed 6 regular season games with a broken foot. He finished the season with 896 yards and a 3.6 yard per carry average (well down from his 4.4 career yard per carry average). His 896 yards and 7 touchdowns were the lowest since his rookie season. |
2006 |
Donovan Mcnabb |
2005 |
2507 Yards, 16 TD, 9 INT |
6-10 4th place |
After week 9, Mcnabb suffered a hernia and was lost for the season. Mcnabb threw for more interceptions and his yards per attempt and completion percentage were down from 2004. The Eagles finished 6-10, in last place, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1999. |
2005 |
Rey Lewis |
2004 |
147 Tak, 1 Sack |
9-7 2nd Place |
Ray Lewis for the most part avoided the curse. His numbers were slightly down from the year before, but he missed one game. He did not record an interception in 2004, the first time in his career. |
2004 |
Michael Vick |
2003 |
585 Yards, 4 TD, 3 INT |
5-11 4th Place |
Vick missed the first 11 games with a broken leg. Vick's QB rating, comp pct, and yards per attempt were all down from 2002. |
2003 |
Marshall Faulk |
2002 |
212 Rush, 953 Yds, 8 TD |
7-9 3rd Place |
Despite playing the same amount of games, Faulk rushed for 430 less yards and had 4 less TDs compared to 2001. Faulk's worst season since 1996. Rams scored only 16 more points then their 1996 team who had Tony Banks at QB and Lawrence Phillips at RB. |
2002 |
Daunte Culpepper |
2001 |
2612 Yds, 14 TD, 13 Int |
5-11 4th Place |
Culpepper missed 4 games with injury, threw for 1300 less yards and 19 less TD's then in 2000. Minnesota's worst record since 1984. |
2001 |
Eddie George |
2000 |
403 Rush, 1509 Yds, 14 TD |
13-3 1st Place |
George's curse came in 2001 where he failed to break 1000 yards and Tennessee missed the playoffs going 7-9. |