Countdown to Madden cover announcement
by 
When the official Madden 09 website launched I brought up the presence of the statement “the countdown begins 4/5/08″ and what that could mean. Yesterday the site updated and it will display one of the covers from the 20 years of Madden each day as the NFL Draft nears.
The countdown leads up to the 24th which is when presumably the Madden 09 cover athlete will be revealed. However with the PS3 NCAA Football 09 cover being announced on the 24th I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Madden announcement come on the 25th instead. It just doesn’t seem that they would bring out both at the same time and split the attention that will be paid to them in that manner.
Generally the cover athlete is announced about a week and a half ahead of the NFL Draft so it appears they’re pushing it much closer this year. Given that the last couple have been leaked a day or two ahead of the official announcements it is possible it’ll be known before then.
Look for my breakdown of the top cover candidates coming soon. What do you think? Will it be a traditional cover or do they have something special in store to commemorate the 20th year?
April 6, 2008 at 7:16 am
From the rumors we heard earlier, I would be absolutely shocked if this was not Eli Manning.
April 6, 2008 at 7:48 am
[quote comment="16936"]From the rumors we heard earlier, I would be absolutely shocked if this was not Eli Manning.[/quote]
I wouldn’t. Just look at all of the previous Madden covers. There has never been a Super Bowl MVP on the cover, and for that matter I don’t think EA will put a quarterback on the cover in a consecutive year. I’m hoping that it’s my boy Adrian Peterson.
April 6, 2008 at 7:54 am
They should just give it to Madden for the Collectors Edition and for the normal games, I agree with you MadCow AP should get it.
April 6, 2008 at 8:01 am
[quote comment="16936"]From the rumors we heard earlier, I would be absolutely shocked if this was not Eli Manning.[/quote]
I think the rumor began in large part because of a speculative article I wrote. I actually don’t think it’ll be Manning but his name should be on the list of possibilities.
April 6, 2008 at 8:26 am
Justin Tuck or to change it up, the defensive MVP’s of the Super Bowl: The Entire Giants D-Line
April 6, 2008 at 8:45 am
here’s an idea…surely this year they will be focusing on the presentation…and it is the 20th anniversary of the franchise…perhaps, madden 09 will actually have madden back on the cover…
anyone but eli manning would be awesome…but WRs have gotten seriously short-changed over the years…you could always put on Morten Andersen since he is probably the only player in the game that was still playing when the madden franchise started..
April 6, 2008 at 8:45 am
I could care less who is on the cover. I have said it a million times, it matters most what is inside the cover….
As far as I am concerned, I would rather they leave the cover sleeve off of the green plastic case and have an intern write in “Madden 09″ in black magic marker.
If the game is sweet, it won’t even matter….
April 6, 2008 at 8:46 am
Romo,Peterson,Manning, Brady,MOss,Owens.
April 6, 2008 at 8:55 am
http://www.gamestop.com/common/images/lbox/200431b.jpg
Gamestop box cover..definitely looks like a WR.
April 6, 2008 at 9:20 am
Its definetly Randy Moss
April 6, 2008 at 9:58 am
[quote comment="16948"]http://www.gamestop.com/common/images/lbox/200431b.jpg
Gamestop box cover..definitely looks like a WR.[/quote]
Lol, you’re kidding right?
April 6, 2008 at 10:46 am
“http://www.gamestop.com/common…..00431b.jpg
Gamestop box cover..definitely looks like a WR.”
Lol that actaully looks like Eli when he got away from the pats D and threw the amazing pass to Tyree.
Its going to be Eli
April 6, 2008 at 12:29 pm
why would you want your favorite athlete on the cover of madden, whoever is on the cover of madden usually gets injured during the season and has a bad year. if they ever were to put my favorite nfl player on madden i would boycott it. you better hope they dont put eli or adrian on the cover. im hoping for devin hester because he just screws up games by getting his team a win when they do not deserve one, he is their team. imagine if he got injured, the bears would have such a bad year, anyways you should never want your fav athlete on the cover. look at vince young he was injured some throughout the season and he threw only 9 TD’s and like 17 int
April 6, 2008 at 1:24 pm
maybe the player on the ps3 NCAA is the same player thats on madden 09 cause its being revealed the same day. hopefully not though
April 6, 2008 at 2:42 pm
please not eli
April 6, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Madden hasn’t been good in 5 years. Who cares about the cover!
April 6, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Madden08 sucked. The weapons feature sucks and the QB Vision sucks. They can take the cover for 09 and wipe their butts with it for all I care.
April 6, 2008 at 4:34 pm
madden football 2008 was a major disappointment. It may be the worst football game in history. No thanks EA, youcan keep 2009. Keep the cover too.
April 6, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Eli Manning and the Giants are amazing. They kicked the Pat’s butts. It still won’t make me buy Madden 2009.
April 6, 2008 at 4:42 pm
john madden football’s last good year was 2005. qb vision cone and weapons bits the big one.
April 6, 2008 at 4:45 pm
1. John Madden
2. Adrian Peterson
3. Randy Moss
4. Eli Manning
One of them should be on the cover.
April 6, 2008 at 4:47 pm
According to Wikipedia, it’s going to be Champ Bailey, and I’ve put Wikipedia to the test several times and its always been right for me.
April 6, 2008 at 4:58 pm
The should put Randy Moss on the cover with a big “18-1″ over his head.
PS. Madden 2005 was the last good madden. I don’t care about the cover
April 6, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I don’t care about the cover either. It can glow-in-the-dark and have a player that mutters motivational phrases when you squeeze the box for all I care. The game needs to improve significantly for it to be a success.
You know, I was going to post something positive and light about Eli being a solid choice, but then people had to bring up the vision cone and weapons. Every year there’s something else to switch off in the menu.
I wonder if the weapons will be turned off by default this year or do people need a throbbing yellow symbol to tell them that Brady is accurate or smart or prone to date supermodels? Sigh.
Ok, here’s the positive, light, and even serious remark: Eli Manning should be on half the covers throwing the ball, and David Tyree should be on the other half catching it with his helmet.
April 6, 2008 at 5:10 pm
i can confirm that it is tony romo of the dallas cowboys. they chose him because tehy are focusing on the QB pocket presence. Believe me I know this for a fact. ps Im a redskins fan i wouldnt lie.
April 6, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Wikipedia now says Brady..
April 6, 2008 at 5:54 pm
[quote comment="16980"]i can confirm that it is tony romo of the dallas cowboys. they chose him because tehy are focusing on the QB pocket presence. Believe me I know this for a fact. ps Im a redskins fan i wouldnt lie.[/quote]
Ha, I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to put a guy whos known most for choking in the playoffs and dating Jessica Simpson on the cover of their 20th anniversary game.
Brady could be the guy but he’d have to want to be. He could be another Tomlinson and turn it down cause he doesn’t need it since the money wouldn’t mean much of anything to him. I also think that being remembered for losing the SB last year after everything hurts his chances somewhat.
April 7, 2008 at 8:59 am
They should just put Madden on the cover and hope him and Michaels do the play-by-play. I hope they scrap the QB Vision and Weapon system of 08 and add some of the NCAA features…like Right Analog directional pumpfakes, Home Crowd meter, and up to date stat overlays like the good ole days…
April 7, 2008 at 11:27 am
And Mcfadden is NCAA 09 Cover Athlete
http://sports.espn.go.com/videogames/news/story?id=3280022
April 10, 2008 at 6:59 am
i was in the game store the other day on the cover of the madden 09 display box it was brian westbrook of the philadelphia eagles
helps for me since im a cowboys fan lmao
madden curse shall live on
April 10, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Favre should definetly be on the cover. he is retired, but had the best season of his career. Long Live the Legend!!!
April 10, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Champ bailey has already made the cover
April 11, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Come on we all know who it’s going to be: PATRICK WILLIS! He dominated this past season. He was named Defensive Rookie of the Year and he should have gotten DMVP because he had better stats than Bob Sanders but they would never give those awards out together.
April 11, 2008 at 4:07 pm
How do you know Champ Bailey is the coverboy
April 16, 2008 at 6:51 pm
i told by many people that Colt’s safety Bob Sanders will be on the cover
April 18, 2008 at 4:56 pm
It should be A.p even though i am a colts fan
April 21, 2008 at 11:35 am
you idiots moss already said that he didn’t want the cover, it is on this same site just search madden 09 cover and you will find it.
April 25, 2008 at 5:57 am
Every rose has it’s thorn
April 25, 2008 at 10:18 am
Brett Farve is on the cover …