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Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice has advanced to the 'Sweet Sixteen' in the voting to be on the cover of the video game, Madden NFL 13. Despite the so-called "Madden Cover Curse," Rice has actually stated that he would be honored to be selected for the game's cover. Rice's competition in this next round is New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees.
Here is more from EA Sports on the next round of voting:
Logging more than 8.5 million votes nationwide since March 21, the fans have determined which 16 NFL athletes will advance in the Madden NFL 13 CoverVote competition. Stars like Ray Rice & Drew Brees proved they are serious threats to win the fan-driven cover vote after excelling during round 1, but now must face each other in order to advance to the tournament’s quarterfinals.
Round 2 voting is now open and fans can make their selections exclusively at www.ESPN.com/MaddenVote to determine which of the 16 NFL players advance to the next round of the Madden NFL 13 cover athlete voting campaign. Every Wednesday throughout the campaign, fans can tune in to SportsNation at 5 p.m. ET for analysis and commentary on the competition - culminating with the unveiling of the Madden NFL 13 cover athlete winner on ESPN's SportsNation on April 25 at 5 p.m. ET.
(Read more and see the full bracket after the 'Jump')
March 28, 2012 – Since March 7, fans nationwide have been casting their votes to determine the next cover athlete for Madden NFL 13, logging 4.3 million votes during the play-in round and more than 8.5 million votes since the start of the bracket phase of the competition on March 21. Weekly fan voting will determine which of the remaining 16 NFL players will advance through seeded brackets - culminating with the unveiling of the Madden NFL 13 cover athlete winner on ESPN's SportsNation on April 25 at 5 p.m. ET.
Rice is now considered the sixth choice to win the vote for the Madden Cover, according to wagering site, Bovada. He is tied with Arian Foster at 18-1 odds of winning and stands behind Victor Cruz (10-1), Rob Gronkowski (7-1), Aaron Rodgers (11-2), Calvin Johnson (7-2) and current favorite Cam Newton (2-3) now that Tim Tebow has been relegated to a Wildcat backup option. Personally, I think Rodgers should be the favorite over a second-year guy who happened to have a pretty good rookie season.