Caleb Harris
2024 NFL Schedule it was finally released on May 15, the last date it was dropped in recent memory. AND just like last yearI’m here to present the best revenge games of the upcoming regular season.
If you’re one of those clowns (like Pete Prisco) who claims revenge games aren’t real, get an idea, man. Not only will I prove it to you in the 10-game list, but we also have a superstar wide receiver who has gone on record to say that revenge games are absolutely a thing.
Amon-Ra St. Brown — the man who lists every wide receiver draft in front of him every day when he wakes up — told our FFT folks, revenge games are absolutely real.
Generally speaking, we like to find non-divisional games to include here, but we’ve made a few exceptions below. Enjoy and absorb the resentment.
Honorable mentions
Why only honorable mention? Because I normally don’t like to include divisional matchups on this list because these teams play each other several times a year and there is always bad blood. Every player must be excited to face a hated division rival. But in this specific case, there are two running backs who switched teams last year — Saquon Barkley and Aaron Jones — who have early-season matchups against their former teams.
Barkley was KILLED this offseason by insane Giants fans, and he might be pissed that New York never paid him despite drafting him second overall. Jones was kicked to the curb by the Packers despite being a fan favorite and lighting up rushing defenses down the stretch to help Green Bay reach the playoffs last year. He quickly signed with the Vikings and should look to crush his old team, Full Favre Style, in Week 4 of the season.
Week 1, 8:20 p.m. ET, ESPN
You might be wondering “What theaaaaaaaa” with this one. Well, let’s give some reasons: Aaron Rodgers will try to get revenge on his Achilles. He will try to get revenge on “Monday Night Football”. He’ll try to avenge Week 1 and — most importantly — he’ll return to California to face the team that passed on him with the first overall pick. Obviously, his career ended up better than Alex Smith’s, perhaps in large part because he fell to the Packers, but that wild night in New York during the first round of the draft occurred because the 49ers didn’t draft him. Aaron Rodgers is a very spiteful man who loves having a chip on his shoulder. I’d be shocked if he didn’t already use this against San Francisco.
Week 1, 1pm ET, Fox
The nuances of the revenge game also present the need to scrutinize fired coaches, especially when they transition into offensive coordinators, and ESPECIALLY when they return to their previous job to face their old team in the first week of the next season. That’s the case with former Falcons coach Arthur Smith, who replaced the beleaguered Matt Canada as OC in Pittsburgh and immediately reminds his old boss why he shouldn’t have been fired. Bonus: he’s doing it with Russell Wilson at center (probably) and that means we’ll (probably) see Russ vs. Kirk Cousins, what it actually is a rematch of the 2011 B1G championship game when Russ took down Cousins. Extra bonus: new Falcons coach Raheem Morris is a protégé of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, so there’s some friendly energy there.
Week 1, 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC
O NFL doesn’t normally drop a revenge bomb on us early on, but we’re going to get one in 2024 with the Ravens going on the road for an AFC Championship game rematch. Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes are beautiful whenever that happens, but the Ravens will want revenge on the Kansas City defense for slowing them down and avoiding a trip to the Super Bowl. There’s the added bonus of John Harbaugh serving as Andy Reid’s protégé, and the back-and-forth that comes with that still exists.
7. Falcons in Vikings
Week 14, 1pm ET, Fox
Kirk Cousins joins this list for the second time upon returning home. Or at least his supposed return! It would be surprising if Cousins wasn’t already a starter in Atlanta at the end of the year (barring injuries) and if he wasn’t, it could be an even bigger battle between two rookie quarterbacks, Michael Penix and JJ McCarthy. I don’t know if Cousins will want “revenge” against Minnesota — he said on ESPN after the schedule was released that he wouldn’t exactly be full of discontent upon his return — but this is still a huge game for the NFC’s playoff picture. . It’s the end of the year and I refuse to believe Cousins won’t want to remind his old team what they’re missing with their new arsenal of weapons in Atlanta.
Week 17, 1pm ET, Fox
Not just the Derek Carr Bowl, but also the Dennis Allen Bowl! The Raiders unceremoniously released Carr before last offseason and Carr quickly reunited with his old coach in Oakland, who had replaced Sean Payton in New Orleans. Now the two are firmly in the spotlight, with a lot of attention being paid to this 2024 Saints roster. There are concerns about the offensive line and people are wondering how much of a ceiling New Orleans has. What’s really intriguing is whether Allen and Carr will be in their respective positions when this game actually takes place and whether the Raiders will be able to stay in playoff contention until the end of the year.
Week 1, 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC
This beauty of a revenge game already appeared in last year’s playoffs, when Matthew Stafford returned to Detroit for the first time since being traded to the Rams in exchange for Jared Goff. Goff and Detroit got the better of Stafford and the Rams in Detroit in a very entertaining playoff game, and both teams should consider themselves contenders in the NFC this year. Goff and Stafford need to feel good about the current situation, assuming Stafford’s contract is fulfilled. Goff just got PAID by the Lions and is clearly a huge part of their future, having completely changed the public narrative about how he is viewed. But Stafford will want to win in Detroit and Goff will want to remind the Rams once again that they shouldn’t have let him go. There’s still plenty of spice here. If you didn’t know this, the NFL warned you by putting this game on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 1.
Week 5, 1pm ET, CBS
If it weren’t for the various angles below, I would probably rank Stefon Diggs’ revenge game higher, mainly because there is no true revenge like wide receiver revenge. Recent receivers who went notably nuclear on their previous team, including Randy Moss (he destroyed the Cowboys as a rookie for not drafting him), Terrell Owens (143 yards and two scores against the 49ers), Andre Johnson (six receptions for 77 yards and two touchdowns against Houston), Steve Smith (he rushed for 135 yards and two scores against Carolina, before later saying “I’m 35 and I ran around them like they were schoolyard kids”), Jarvis Landry (10 receptions, 148 yards, two scores against the Dolphins) and AJ Brown (eight receptions, 119 yards, two scores, his old boss was fired against the Titans), just to name a few famous ones.
Diggs already has one under his belt, even if he had to wait until 2022 to get revenge on the Vikings, when he had 12 catches and 128 yards in a wild, albeit losing, game. There’s a good chance Diggs is no longer elite, but I’d be willing to bet he still has one more good season left in the tank and I guarantee he’ll have a big game against the Bills there.
3. Chargers in Ravens/Harbowl
Week 12, 8:20 p.m. ET, ESPN
The third matchup between Jim Harbaugh and John Harbaugh will take place in 2024, thanks to Jim’s return to the NFL as head coach of the Chargers and the fortuitous matchup that follows. If you want to argue that this isn’t “revenge” because Jim and John are brothers and ultimately love each other, that’s fine. But Jim never beat his brother and despite having beaten one college football championship at his alma mater, Michigan, last year, he doesn’t have the Super Bowl ring that John does. Worst news for Jim: John won the Super Bowl against his brother in Super Bowl XLVII (The Blackout Bowl in New Orleans) in a WILD battle. If you follow the Harbaugh brothers, you know that their father, Jack, used to tell them to go out and fight as kids. If you don’t think it means much to both of you, especially in a crowded AFC, someone else is better off than you.
2. Steelers at Broncos
Week 2, 4:25 p.m. ET, CBS
Russell Wilson versus Sean Payton? Shoot my veins. Russ was cut by the Broncos this offseason and ended up signing with the Steelers on a very cheap one-year contract. He has all the bad blood in the world for being publicly embarrassed, even though the Broncos still pay him about $85 million not to play for their team. But if you think he’s the only one absolutely guaranteed for this match, think again. Payton is just as vindictive from a coach’s perspective — it’s impossible to forget him muttering “choke” while making a choke move against the Falcons during his days in the NFC South.
This was based on pure hatred for a division rival. The Broncos and Steelers are not rivals. But after this offseason, Wilson and Payton are – they spent the entire pre- and post-launch period passively aggressively taking public shots at each other. If you think Russ doesn’t want to light up the Broncos defense, you’re crazy. And if you think Payton doesn’t want to make Russ look terrible while also introducing newcomer Bo Nix, you’re depressingly naive.
1. Chiefs at 49ers
Week 7, 4:25 p.m. ET, Fox
As we said last year, there is absolutely no revenge like “Super Bowl Revenge” and the 49ers will get their chance at redemption. That was part of many early Fox/Tom Brady-on-the-call advertising leaks of this year’s schedule – you can also bet it will be one of the games Fox refused to let the NFL into primetime, especially after the crazy overtime ratings CBS got for last year’s Super Bowl matchup. It’s quite early in the season and we should expect full health from both teams.
We saw the 49ers particularly primed for revenge against the Eagles in one of our top revenge games from last year. I wouldn’t be surprised if San Francisco classifies this matchup as the regular-season Super Bowl. He’s also the favorite for a Super Bowl matchup, the Chiefs are trying to win, and Brady’s connections to both teams (rivalry against Patrick Mahomes, his flirtation with the 49ers in 2023 and his ties to the Bay Area) make this matchup very interesting indeed.
