# Peyton Hillis, the latest Madden Curse victim **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 3, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700 "2011-11-03T01:55:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/1 "2011-11-03T01:55:07Z")
The curse is REAL, even for B list ballers like Hillis: > **[Hillis sorry for missing Halloween party for kids](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/7181815/peyton-hillis-cleveland-browns-sorry-missing-halloween-party-kids)** > > His image tattered, his reputation under attack, Browns running back Peyton Hillis tried to stiff arm past another mess in a season spiraling out of control. > [@](#): > > It’s been a stunning fall from grace for Hillis, who rushed for nearly 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. Hillis endeared himself to Cleveland fans with his bulldozing style, and during the offseason he won a nationwide fan vote to be the Madden video game cover. > > He has to now wonder if the tribute is more of a curse. > > His second season with Cleveland has been entangled in controversy. > > It began with his public contract squabble with Browns management about a long-term extension. He then sat out the Sept. 25 game against Miami with strep throat, a decision made on the advice of his agent, Kennard McGuire. In the aftermath, Hillis’ toughness and commitment were questioned by some who wondered if he sat out in part because of his contract. > > He’s been sidelined the past two weeks after injuring his hamstring on Oct. 16 against Oakland. He returned to practice last Wednesday, but suffered a setback and missed Sunday’s game in San Francisco. > > On Wednesday, coach Pat Shurmur initially told reporters Hillis would practice as the Browns (3-4) prepared for Sunday’s game in Houston. However, Hillis was dressed in sweats and left the field with a trainer shortly after the media was allowed in to watch the first 15 minutes. > > Hillis was listed as “did not participate” on the Browns’ first injury report of the week and his status for Sunday’s game is uncertain. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/2 "2011-11-03T02:22:00Z")
And this is why you don’t vote a player from your favorite team on the cover of Madden. Next year the Browns fans should vote for Polamalu or AJ Green or something. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/3 "2011-11-03T02:26:09Z")
I didn’t think Hillis really should’ve been on the cover in the first place, but congrats to the Browns for putting a good campaign together behind him - he wound up being the anti-Vick. What this actually show is how hard it is to have two good seasons a row in the NFL. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/4 "2011-11-03T03:50:25Z")
This isn’t a serious thread, right? The guy facing Hillis in the final vote was Vick. The guys Hillis beat out to get to that point were Ray Rice, Matt Ryan, Jamaal Charles, and Aaron Rodgers. With the exception of Rodgers, what are all their excuses? I mean, typical injuries + regression to the mean affects anyone who has a spectacular season. Look at Chris Johnson, Rashard Mendenhall, Andre Johnson, Miles Austin, Roddy White…like Marley says, it’s the exception to put together two great, healthy seasons in a row, not indicative of a “curse” when they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/5 "2011-11-03T13:15:08Z")
As a Browns fan, I’m just about done with Peyton Hillis. It’s no secret he’s lost the respect of most of his teammates. His agent has publicly stated that he recommended Peyton not play, even if he was medically cleared. He just turned down a 3 year, $13mil contract from the Browns (only $3mil guaranteed). ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/6 "2011-11-03T13:56:05Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > As a Browns fan, I’m just about done with Peyton Hillis. It’s no secret he’s lost the respect of most of his teammates. His agent has publicly stated that he recommended Peyton not play, even if he was medically cleared. He just turned down a 3 year, $13mil contract from the Browns (only $3mil guaranteed). Which is a fair contract for someone like Hillis who has only had one good season. I wonder if the league is catching up to him now, too…keying on him, seeing his weaknesses on tape, etc…didn’t he start to decline at the end of last season too? ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/7 "2011-11-03T14:44:01Z")
Hillis missed a Halloween party at a boys and girls club. He had committed to be there, but didn’t show and is now apologizing and blaming a miscommunication between him and his management. It’s stuff like that, the strep throat, contract issues, and poor play, I suspect there may be more than meets the eye. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/8 "2011-11-03T15:30:59Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I wonder if the league is catching up to him now, too…keying on him, seeing his weaknesses on tape, etc…didn’t he start to decline at the end of last season too? It appeared as though he did, but not really. He ran for 322 yards in the first four games. He ran for 322 yards in the next four games. He ran for 318 yards in the third quarter of the season. He ran for 215 yards in the last four games. His per-carry averages for the same periods were 4.9, 4.8, 3.8 and 4.1. He _appeared_ to decline sharply from a fantasy perspective because he stopped catching passes and stopped scoring touchdowns. By season-quarters, he caught 16, 14, 23 and then 8 passes, and scored 4, 4, 5 and 0 touchdowns. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/9 "2011-11-03T15:58:29Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Hillis missed a Halloween party at a boys and girls club. He had committed to be there, but didn’t show and is now apologizing and blaming a miscommunication between him and his management. I forgot about that. And the name of that party? Halloween with Hillis. Way to bail on a charity event named for you. As for him declining last season, I think it was kind of expected as he was the only RB they could rely on. He carried the load last year. It was apparent that the Browns needed a change of pace back, which Hardesty was supposed to be this year. Now he’s hurt, too. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/10 "2011-11-03T17:38:11Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Hillis missed a Halloween party at a boys and girls club. He had committed to be there, but didn’t show and is now apologizing and blaming a miscommunication between him and his management. “His management” is his brother Kyle. Nice. ---
**Author:** ![Ennui](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ennui/32/3396_2.png) [@Ennui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ennui)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/11 "2011-11-04T00:00:40Z")
This whole situation has been a cluster fudge and not all the blame goes to Hillis. He and his current agent (his third in a year) clearly have an over inflated idea of his market value and that is a shame. The Browns have cap space this year an I could have seen a deal with a decent amount of front loaded guaranty money but now it’s looking more like the only way Hillis will come to accept what his real worth is will be to offer his services on the open market. And the rest of the problems grow out of this. I’ve had strep throat, I couldn’t imagine trying to play football with it. It was widely reported he lost about ten pounds in the days before the game he missed, if true I don’t think anyone could doubt he was legitimately too sick to play. But because of the contract situation people began to speculate if there was some ulterior motive involved. The Browns head coach Pat Shurmur dropped the ball on this one, he was asked at a presser about Hillis and he said something to the affect of “I _guess_ he was too sick to play,” talk about a flat out stupid comment. If he had instead said something like “the man lost ten pounds in two days, he is either seriously ill or suffering from an Ultra Slimfast addiction” then this story goes away. Now he has a ham string issue and people are pointing back to the strep story and wondering if Hillis is “once again” malingering as if he had done so previously. I don’t think Payton Hillis is a particularly smart or media savvy person. He was not “medically cleared” to play the week he sat out due to strep. That is all he ever needed to say about it but instead he tells a reporter that his agent told him he shouldn’t pay if he was feeling that poorly. His agent’s advice was not really relevant because the team made him inactive that week so mentioning it to a reporter was just flat out stupid. It only feeds into the perception that Hillis and his agent are only interested in his pay day to the expense of the team. Being a no show to the charity event is just too stupid for words given the media environment. It wouldn’t reflect well on any athlete but the local media (primarily talk radio hosts) were already filling countless on air hours fanning the flames of controversy and the Halloween party lets them recycle all their old complaints. I swear, this town is so starved for a winner we turn on our own like ravening wolves, it’s really kind of sad. Last year Eric Wright was having a bad year in an otherwise respectable career and the local media was giving him the same punching bag treatment that Hillis is getting right now. He was likewise in a contract year and he is now a contributing (if unspectacular) member of another team. I don’t think Payton Hillis is a bad guy, he’s a kinda dumb guy in a bad situation. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/12 "2011-11-04T13:23:26Z")
I agree about Eric Wright. I liked him. But Hillis, man, how dumb are you to tell the media that your agent told you not to play? And now this hamstring thing feels really awkward. And it’s not just the media getting on him. His teammates have lost respect, too. Of course, I heard that from Doug Dieken who may techically be a member of the media, but it’s not in his interest to make matters worse for the Browns. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/13 "2011-11-04T13:42:41Z")
His agent had already told the media, so it didn’t much matter at that point. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyton-hillis-the-latest-madden-curse-victim/601700/14 "2011-11-05T02:05:19Z")
This doesn’t sound good for Hillis or the Browns, at all. [http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/browns/entries/2011/11/04/hillis\_out\_and\_maybe\_for\_good.html](http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/browns/entries/2011/11/04/hillis_out_and_maybe_for_good.html) From the article: \*According to [Yahoosports.com](http://Yahoosports.com), a group of teammates pulled Hillis aside recently and, in so many words, told him they’ve had enough of his act. Their opinion of him apparently plummeted when they saw him throwing passes from midfield to the crossbar prior to the San Francisco game. He missed that game with his hamstring injury. The Plain Dealer also reports today that some players were upset when Hillis went back home to Arkansas to get married last Tuesday when he should have been getting treatment on his hamstring. Teammates apparently have been skeptical of Hillis ever since he sat out a game with strep throat on the advice of his agent, making it look like he sat out in protest of not having his contract extended.\* And: \*This quote, from Joe Thomas to [Yahoosports.com](http://Yahoosports.com), kind of says it all: “A few guys tried to talk to him, to make him understand the best way to go about things is to put your head down and do the best you possibly can. Because if the Browns aren’t going to pay you, some team will break the bank - and either way you need to play hard.”\* Yikes.