NEW YORK — The opposition was throwing the ball all over the place when Marshall Faulk watched his son's football game last year.

Afterward, the 12-year-old lamented that his team didn't use the cover-2 defense.

Faulk, the 2000 NFL MVP, considers such moments the greatest influence of the "Madden NFL Football" video game, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. He overhears his son and his friends casually tossing around such football terminology as cover-2 or 4-3 defense, concepts they learned from maneuvering virtual players.

"I know I didn't teach it to them," Faulk said, "because they haven't asked me."

To the guys for whom those terms are part of their jobs, "Madden," whose 2009 edition was released Tuesday, is an institution. Younger NFL stars like 25-year-old Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young have been playing the game practically since they were old enough to hold a controller.

Last year, Young was on the cover. It's a distinction today's players regard with great pride.

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, a two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, called his turn on the cover "one of the greatest honors I think I've ever had."

Granted, Lewis' declaration came during a celebration of the anniversary in June that included fellow former cover stars Faulk, Young, Daunte Culpepper and Shaun Alexander.

But there's no doubt how seriously NFL players take the game.

"Even if you're not on the cover, you look at your rankings and stats and always question them," Faulk said of the ratings for various abilities players are given in each year's edition. "You want to make sure you show 'em."

Lewis will check the ratings and think: "Huh? This guy is faster than me? I ain't never lost to this guy."

"What do they rate me off of?" he huffed. "My career? Last year?"

Culpepper estimated that many in the NFL play the game three to four hours a day during the offseason. Once the season starts, the volume decreases — to about three to four times a week.

NFL players with their blazing competitive streaks find the rivalries of the game irresistible.