Jerry Rice and Cris Carter Face-off in Play-in Round of Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote

[Steve_OS]

Hall of Fame WRs Vie for Final Spot in Old-School Bracket

To get fans warmed up for the upcoming Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote EA SPORTS and ESPN today announced a special play-in round to fill the final slot in the old-school bracket. Hall of Fame wide receivers Jerry Rice and Cris Carter will do battle this week in order to determine who will be named as a tournament entrant.

The play-in round will be conducted exclusively on Twitter, and fans can vote for their favorite by tweeting at SportsNation (@SportsNation) and using the hashtags #Madden25Rice or #Madden25Carter. It’ll be up to the fans to decide if @JerryRice or @criscarter80 has what it takes to enter this elite bracket. The winner will be announced via Twitter prior to SportsNation’s Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote kickoff show that airs Monday, Mar. 11 at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN2, at which point the full 64-player bracket will be revealed and First Round voting will commence on ESPN.com/MaddenVote.

The two legendary receivers will be competing for an open spot in the old-school bracket. Due to the infancy of the franchise, the Houston Texans are represented solely in the new-school bracket, creating an opportunity for Rice and Carter to enter the Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote competition.

Embraced by fans and honored by critics for 25 years, Madden NFL is known as the NFL’s “33rd Franchise” due to its authentic gameplay, the development team’s unparalleled access to NFL resources and its prominent place in NFL culture. Since its beginning as “John Madden Football,” the franchise has sold through approximately 99 million units and generated more than $3.7 billion in net revenue.

Madden NFL 25 is developed in Orlando, Florida by EA Tiburon and will be available for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system and PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system for $59.99 and can be preordered at GameStop.

To learn more about Madden NFL 25, visit http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl. Fans are also invited to become a Madden Insider for exclusive information on Facebook including the latest news, original content and more for Madden NFL 25.

[JerzeyReign]

Quote: Originally Posted by Steve_OS

Embraced by fans and honored by critics for 25 years, Madden NFL is known as the NFL’s “33rd Franchise” due to its authentic gameplay, the development team’s unparalleled access to NFL resources and its prominent place in NFL culture.

I think this was added in to troll OS lol. Now we can go "hard" on Madden due to them constantly saying they have authentic gameplay.

Anyway, Jerry Rice should be an easy pick. No offense to Carter but Rice is the best WR to ever do it and this vote should be lopsided.

[CM Hooe]

The notion of Jerry Rice in a play-in game against anyone is insulting, lol.

[slick589]

All aboard Thea annual hype train.

Seriously Jerry Rice has to earn his spot to compete in the cover vote?

[Big FN Deal]

I am not at all "hyped" by a cover vote but glad to see I was not the only one shocked to read that arguably the greatest receiver to ever play football has to "play-in". Well done by EA marketing because now I actually am curios to see what players were a stone cold lock over Rice, lol.

[simfballcritic]

Quote: Originally Posted by Big FN Deal

I am not at all "hyped" by a cover vote but glad to see I was not the only one shocked to read that arguably the greatest receiver to ever play football has to "play-in". Well done by EA marketing because now I actually am curios to see what players were a stone cold lock over Rice, lol.

Nice post!

[JerzeyReign]

Quote: Originally Posted by Big FN Deal

I am not at all "hyped" by a cover vote but glad to see I was not the only one shocked to read that arguably the greatest receiver to ever play football has to "play-in". Well done by EA marketing because now I actually am curios to see what players were a stone cold lock over Rice, lol.

It looks like they did it per team - if thats the case Joe Montana probably took the 49ers bid.

[believeinnow]

Is there a reason this is just a re-posting of the press release they sent out? Why not put a personal spin the story? Feels like really lazy reporting.