Back In The Game
Last season, the BUCS ended the 13-year playoff dry spell. They subsequently ended a drought that dated back to 2003 when the Team had last seen a playoff win by defeating the Washington Footb….I can’t even type that foolishness. You know who.
This year, it looks like the Team will end another lowly streak that’s been weighing heavy on the hearts of many a fan.
In 2021, there will be a Tampa Bay Buccaneer gracing the cover of a video game.
QB Tom Brady will make his debut on the cover of EA Sport’s Madden NFL 22….in Pewter and Red. As the defending Super Bowl champion. That’s something that no one could’ve ever really dreamt of a few years ago.
Brady’s last appearance on the cover of the popular game was its 2018 iteration. Technically, he was on two covers as the game came in its regular retail packaging as well as a G.O.A.T Edition that was priced significantly higher but came with a bunch of perks like MUT cards. And, also technically, he’s the only player associated with the BUCS that would make the cover of a video game more than once.
While it may not be as important to some, there are plenty of fellow BUCS fans who have been waiting for the Team to gain enough steam and stature to have a player on the cover of a video game. It means the player, and likely the entire Team is relevant.
The last time a BUCS player was featured on a video game, it was Mr. Derrick Brooks. Brooks appeared on the cover of Sony-exclusive NFL Gameday 2005. Another 10+year drought broken.
The Gameday series was a formidable opponent to the 800lb gorilla known as Madden in the mid 90s when it was one of the few options to Madden. But, because it was an exclusive title, it didn’t get as much recognition. That and the fact the series faced new NFL competition from Take Two’s 2K Sports.
Before Mr. Brooks made his one-and-only appearance on a game’s cover art, there was Warren Sapp just the year before.
2K Sports made the brash defensive tackle the face of its franchise when he appeared on the cover of 2K’s ESPN NFL 2K4.
2K Sports was the arch-rival of EA Sports in the late 90s up until 2005 when EA bought the exclusive rights to NFL games. 2K had gone after the brasher and sometimes more hardened look with its cover players. They had the likes of Randy Moss, Brian Urlacher, Sapp, and Terrell Owens before it shut down its NFL game development.
The only other presence of the BUCS on a video game cover was NFL Blitz 2000. There, a generic ball carrier donning the iconic red jersey with white pants went streaking across the cover like he was Johnny Blaze riding from the depths of hell completely on fire.
In retrospect, the no-rules arcade game would’ve been better served to have featured Sapp, Hardy Nickerson, or John Lynch.
EA may also be breaking a streak with the cover this year. For the first time since Madden 10, there’s likely to be two athletes on the cover. In what seems to be a play to cash in on the G.O.A.T vs “Young G.O.A.T” conversation as well as a hopeful Super Bowl rematch, the gaming giant is looking to feature Patrick Mahomes alongside Brady.
The last time two athletes were featured on the cover, it also featured two players that had just met in a Super Bowl. Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu faced off in the year’s biggest game of the season and ended up facing off on the cover of one of the world’s biggest video games a few months later.
I’ve no clue what the actual cover may look like. But, I’m interested in seeing what some people can come up with. If it was up to me, it’d be a picture of Todd Bowles looking nonchalant at a press conference.
Or maybe this…..
But, it’s Brady vs Mahomes….again.
For all the pixels.
