First Look at Vince Young in Madden NFL 08
First look at the Titans cover star in the game. Is he next in line for injury?
By Todd Zuniga, 04/17/2007
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3158801
http://sports.ign.com/articles/781/781174p1.html
Colts QB Peyton Manning, the face of the NFL, finally conquered the Patriots and won the Super Bowl last NFL season. Chargers reigning MVP Ladanian Tomlinson shattered the TD record. Broncos shutdown cornerback Champ Bailey made half of the football field disappear. But its second-young Tennessee Titans Vince Young that gets the nod to cover Madden NFL 08. Young -- a fantastic double-threat QB on the cusp of stardom -- took over behind center for the Titans and helped them go from 2-8 to 8-8 (they narrowly missed the playoffs). But going into his second season, he's far from the best player in the NFL, making him an odd choice for sports gaming's most prestigious -- and dangerous -- cover.
"If you look back at the history of Madden covers, I don't know if we've ever really put the best player on the cover -- last year Shaun Alexander was an anomaly because he had a tremendous year, and fit in with our feature set," said Chris Erb, Tiburon's Director of Marketing.
But the cover choice just isn't about stardom. There are various factors that led to Young making the cover.
"A lot goes into who we put on the cover," said Erb. "First, are they a gamer? And I mean a real gamer, not just someone who says they're a gamer. Second, we haven't talked about our feature set yet, but Vince Young lines up really well with what we're trying to do. And the third thing, which was to me the most important: if you're an NFL fan, one thing you notice in the league right now is the giant youth movement. Last year's draft was like the 1983 draft, you had Young, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Joseph Addai, Marques Colston, Devin Hester. And I think Vince is really the face of that movement. For a guy to come in, win six straight games, win Rookie of the Year, and be the first rookie quarterback to play in the Pro Bowl -- it says a lot about the type of year he had."
We asked if the decision makers at EA felt nervous about throwing such a promising, young player under the bus, considering that most of the athletes have suffered significant injuries.
"We're trying to go with a really young, healthy guy who's not going to get hurt," Erb joked. "The jinx thing bites us every year. I haven't told this to people, but I've got a bottle of champagne in my office that we're ready to pop once someone breaks the curse. And we're hoping Vince has a tremendous year, and will be that guy, because that's the best story for us."
