As a firm believer in the Madden Curse (a firm believer in all things superstition only when it comes to sports, mind you), there was an awful lot of nervousness at the thought of Patrick Willis getting on the cover. Willis advanced to the semifinals by besting New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, leading many to believe that he had a solid chance to make the finals and win the whole thing.
In the end, I did end up voting for Willis - and I linked the vote form multiple times. I rallied (albeit to a smaller extent) and am now a little disappointed by the fact that he didn't make it. Yes, Willis was edged out by Cam Newton, with the Carolina Panthers quarterback getting 53 percent of the vote - not a huge margin by anybody's standards.
There's disappointment here, in that Willis is as deserving as any in regards to being on the cover. He's the best linebacker in the league (outside or inside) and is well on his way to a Hall of Fame career and the moniker of best linebacker in league history. Nothing is guaranteed of course, and it's going to be a hard road for Willis, whose career is still young.
It's extremely difficult for a defensive player to even make the cover, and that's one reason the edge goes to Newton, here. He's set to take on Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions, who just bested Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers with 67 percent of the vote. It will be interesting to see if "Megatron" can derail the Newton hype (though the curse might do that just fine if Newton wins).
At any rate - props to Willis for making it further than he did last year, and of course, props to him for being the best linebacker in the league. You don't need a Madden cover to validate that. If you want to vote on the final, you can find the link here.