You have to assume that when EA decided to put Brett Favre on the cover of this year’s Madden, they were just trying to honor a legend of the game in a fitting manner. With Brett comfortably retired and game productions humming along nicely, the folks at EA Tiburon were happy to just sit back, watch the money roll in and then go out and buy their third gold-plated toilet.

Alas, things are never simple when it comes to Brett Favre, and the announcement yesterday that he has been traded to the New York Jets has thrown all of Maddendom into a tizzy. In light of these new developments, EA has quickly thrown in a couple of patches to make sure the game is as accurate as possible until Favre decides to retire once more and take up competitive cabre tossing.

In order to fix the issue of having Favre on the cover in a Packers jersey, EA is releasing a free downloadable cover showcasing Favre in a Jets uniform which you can then slip over the now erroneous package. I don’t really know how many people care that he’s wearing the wrong jersey and will actually go to the trouble of printing a new cover, but the option is there, and now the twelve remaining New York Jets fans can cease their planned siege of the EA offices.

As for the bigger issue of actually having Favre play on the right team in the game itself, EA Tiburon has a plan for that as well. Favre is currently on the "All-Time Greats" team, but anyone who downloads the roster update available on August 11the (the day the game ships) will be able to put Favre on the Jets where he now belongs. Of course, if you still just can’t accept the idea of Favre as a Jet, you can just skip the update and leave things as it were, you just won’t be able to join any online head-to-head or league games.

Just like that, EA has sidestepped what had the potential to be one of the biggest Madden issues they’ve ever had. Do you think they had mock-ups of Favre’s character wearing a Bucs jersey and a Jets jersey saved on their computers last night, and then this morning they just came in and deleted the wrong one? I wonder if digital Tampa Bay Brett is sad he won’t get to play in the Florida sun, or if New York Brett is already gearing up to tell all the rookies how it’s not really cold in New York, and that it’s worse in Wisconsin?