Madden Cover Vote: Peterson Powers On

They're down to 16 players in the vote for who will grace the cover of Madden NFL this coming season, and so far it doesn't look like there's anything stopping the Adrian Peterson train.

In the last round, Peterson found himself matched up against Philadelphia Eagles running back Lesean McCoy. McCoy's nickname is "Shady," which is appropriate because his chances of winning were pretty slim. (BAM fifteen-year old song reference. You know it.) The reigning Most Valuable Player was the only one on the "New School" side of the bracket to reach the 90% mark in his match-up, beating McCoy to the tune of 90% to 10%.

Up next, he faces New England Patriots' tight end Rob Gronkowski, who advanced by defeating New York Jets' cornerback Darrelle Revis, 62% to 38%. The other matchups on the "New School" side of the bracket feature San Francisco 49ers' quarterback Colin Kaepernick against Houston Texans' running back Arian Foster, Indianapolis Colts' quarterback Andrew Luck against Seattle Seahawks' quarterback Russell Wilson, and Washington Redskins' quarterback Robert Griffin III against Baltimore Ravens' running back Ray Rice. (The winner of that last match-up will face the winner of Peterson vs. Gronkowski.)

On the "Old School" side of the bracket, the match-ups feature Joe Montana vs. Dan Marino, Ray Lewis vs. Barry Sanders, Jerry Rice vs. Michael Strahan, and Deion Sanders vs. Troy Aikman. Barry Sanders had the biggest margin of victory of anyone in the last round, defeating Marcus Allen 92% to 8%. It would be sort of interesting to see a Joe Montana/Jerry Rice final on the "Old School" side of things, in my opinion.

So, if you want to see Adrian Peterson continue to advance. . .or if you believe strongly enough in the fabled "Madden Curse" that you want to try to stop him. . .head on over to the voting that's being held at ESPN.com. Voting for this round will run through 3 April.