THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: June 11, 2014

I'm not much of a believer in the Madden curse.

After all, it's just a video game, right?

IF ANYTHING, the fact that Richard Sherman landed the cover of the football game made famous by former coach John Madden, just means that more attention will be paid to the Seattle Seahawks defensive back from Stanford.

It's not like he hasn't made himself a little more famous since last season, with his rant following the NFC championship game, as well as during and after the Super Bowl win over the Denver Broncos.

Having a curse put on him, because he wound up on the cover of a video game, I don't know about that.

Sure, the last time a Seahawks player (Shaun Alexander in 2006) landed on the cover, he started suffering from injuries and was never quite the same as his MVP season in 2005.

There are plenty of other things to worry about than one of 53 players having a curse on him because of a video game.

Sherman - just being that all-around nice guy that nobody knows - actually wants the rest of his teammates in the secondary to join him on the cover, or so he said on Tuesday afternoon.

Whether or not that really happens is anyone's guess.

But it really makes more sense to me.

Granted, Sherman makes plays in the secondary and is probably the most well-known in that defensive backfield, although for more than just his play.

Without the other three guys, he's just another good cornerback in the NFL.

FOR STARTERS, they're the team to beat this year after destroying the Broncos in the Super Bowl.

With that, each and every team in the NFL is going to be coming for them, including those in the NFC West like the San Francisco 49ers, who are easily one of the top three teams in the league.

The other is that, with a lot of teams in recent years, getting back to the Super Bowl isn't a sure thing. Defending champions often times get derailed due to injuries, players leaving and also not being able to regain the momentum that carried them to a championship.

All that really changes in the immediate future is that more attention is now on the Seahawks, instead of having to make a deep playoff run to get someone to pay attention to them.

There's still a long way to go before the Green Bay Packers and Seattle kick off the regular season on Sept. 4 in Seattle.

And a lot of things can happen between now and then.

You could have both Green Bay and Seattle suffer injuries in the preseason, and neither will be at full strength when that time comes.

Then that player might have plenty of time to sit back, relax and play a little Madden.

Probably the only place you can find a curse this football season.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.