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March Madness is apparently having an effect on everyone—including EA Sports.

The creators of the world's most popular NFL video game announced earlier this week that it will hold a 32-player tournament based on fan voting to decide which player will be on the cover of Madden '12.

This is the first time that EA will use a 32-player bracket to decide who will grace the Madden cover. A year ago, EA let the fans vote for the cover player with the choices being Reggie Wayne, Jared Allen and Drew Brees. Brees ended up winning by a wide margin.

This year, EA released two regions comprised of 16 players each. Every NFL team has one player as its representative, with the Seattle Seahawks being the only exception. Instead of having a player as their representative, EA used the famous "12th Man."

Quarterback Mark Sanchez, who is the representative for the New York Jets, was given a No. 5 seed in the right side of the bracket. Sanchez and the Jets will take their rivalry with the Miami Dolphins to this tournament, as Sanchez will face-off against Dolphin offensive linemen Jake Long. Long was given a No. 12 seed.

Two other AFC East rivals will also square off in the first round. In what has to be one of the biggest surprises of the tournament, Patriots running back Danny Woodhead was given a No. 4 seed in the left side of the bracket. Woodhead will face off against Buffalo Bills wide receiver Steve Johnson, who was given a No. 13 seed.

Sanchez will have a difficult road to winning the tournament. He will likely face the No. 4 seed Drew Brees in the second round, who will be aiming to be on the cover of Madden in back-to-back years.

Aaron Rodgers of the Packers and Phillip Rivers of the Chargers are the two No. 1 seeds in the tournament. Sanchez is in Rivers's half of the bracket.

Voting started on Mar. 21 and will continue through late April. The winner of the tournament is expected to be announced on Apr. 26.

I'm sure somewhere Rex Ryan has already guaranteed Sanchez will win the tournament.