PITTSBURGH, PA – Steelers player Troy Polamalu was injured in last night’s season opener. Has the Madden Curse struck again?

After making an impressive intercept, Pittsburgh Steelers strong safety Polamalu suddenly went down with a knee injury. He was taken out of the game, and it is unclear when he will be able to play again.

However, his injury has become notable due to the fact that he was on the Madden NFL 10 video game. Some believe this means he has suffered the Madden Curse.

Up until 1999, former football player John Madden was on the cover of every Madden NFL video game. Since then, the NFL has picked one of the current season’s top players to feature prominently on the cover of each game.

Many NFL fans have noted that a number of featured players have seen their performance decline, usually due to an injury.

The list includes:

Michael Vick – Madden NFL 2004
Donovan McNabb – Madden NFL 06
Shaun Alexander – Madden NFL 2007
Vince Young – Madden NFL 08
Brett Favre – Madden NFL 09
Troy Polamalu – Madden NFL 10

Vick was sidelined for the majority of the 2003 season after receiving a leg injury. Alexander had been the Most Valuable Player until he sustained a foot injury and was unable to achieve his previous winning streak. And Young had been the starting quarterback until he received a knee injury, a position which he never got back.

The video game creator, EA Sports, has said they don’t believe in the curse. Many NFL players don’t believe in it either, contributing the “curse” to the basic fact that football is a very physical sport and most players sustain an injury at some point in their career.

However, Young received his injury after appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live and declaring he would not fall to the Madden Curse. Fans of San Diego Chargers’ LaDainian Tomlinson even created a site called SaveLTfromMadden.com to protest over his appearance on the video games’ cover, for fear he would be injured. He ultimately did not feature on the game.