Amidst all the big Spike Video Game Awards trailer reveals and awards festivities, EA Sports unveiled its cover athlete for NFL Blitz to be none other than Baltimore Ravens’ running back Ray Rice. Now, being a cover athlete in and of itself is an honor, but what makes Rice’s appearance even more special is the fact that he is the first ever digital athlete to appear on an EA Sports cover.

That’s right, Ray Rice’s digital likeness is on the cover of NFL Blitz. Perhaps, by including a digital likeness rather than an actual likeness, EA Sports is trying to avoid following Madden's example and starting a Blitz curse.

Rice beat out fellow NFL athletes Patrick Willis and Roddy White for the NFL Blitz cover, which was decided by fan vote and announced just moments ago by Hall of Famer Jerry Rice.

NFL Blitz Cover Ray Rice

NFL Blitz has been out of the limelight for a while, needing to re-evaluate its mission statements in light of some new rules passed by the NFL. Hopefully, EA Sports can, at the very least, preserve the hard hitting, arcade style atmosphere gamers remember from Blitz’s time in the arcade.

Regardless, a big congratulation to Ray Rice on this tremendous honor.

How do you feel about Ray Rice being awarded the NFL Blitz cover? Do you think that NFL Blitz is a property that will thrive in the digital download space?

NFL Blitz is slated to release this January for the PSN and on XBLA.