“Madden NFL 09” by EA Sports is making history this year, becoming the first edition of the popular football franchise to sport a retired football player on its cover.

Favre, who retired this offseason after 17 years of NFL service, gives EA Sports a chance to finally put to rest the dreaded “cover jinx,” where players who grace the cover of the game end up getting injured.

Most cover athletes, most notably Michael Vick and Daunte Culpepper, find it difficult to recover after the jinx. However, barring a comeback by the famed No. 4 or a catastrophic golfing incident, the jinx is set to end this year.

The game will be available for the Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 as well as the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable handheld entertainment systems.