Top 10 Revenge Games: TO's Philly Return, Montana vs 49ers, & More!

revenge is one of the most powerful motivators over all time in this top 10 we're counting down the NFL's best revenge games that's extremely healthy for pro football these aren't your run-of-the-mill rivalries they are bitter Affairs with an added twist I think a key element to revenge is somebody got screwed by somebody there needs to be a chip on your shoulder that you got hosed the biggest reason you'd want revenge is somebody cut you you know and you're playing against your old team it's your chance to redeem yourself to show them you know hey you shouldn't have cut me there has to be a love story ending with animosity a bad breakup messy divorces petty paybacks this list has it all that's all ten oh it's ridiculously though it's close to right if you take off the zero it would be right that should be number one I mean that should be up there in the top two or three I'm so proud to represent this franchise as their head coach Jon Gruden came to the Raiders as an unknown quantity as the youngest coach of the lake and did something remarkable he completely changed the culture in just his third season as Raiders head coach Gruden led Oakland to its first division title in a decade in route to the AFC Championship game yeah so number one at AFC West there's no champions congratulations he was animated he was cute you had colorful language break and a Halloween break it like a second Jon Gruden would have been a perfect Raiders coach for life let's all start a chant here it was the lowest paid coach the league at the time but it was so obvious that he had done something momentous in any normal world he would have had his contract extended for big money but they didn't give him money they let it fester so Al Davis trades Gruden's of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for two first-round and two second-round draft picks and eight million bucks I think it surprises Gruden a little more than he lets on respect any and that's something I guess you don't do to John Green and so the animosity factor there's a little greater than people realize so he comes to Tampa Bay quite simply I'm thrilled to be here now they were a good team Gruden comes in puts the icing on the cake in his first year as Tampa Bay's head coach Gruden led the bucks to the Super Bowl and who won the AFC to set up our number 10 revenge game that's right in the Super Bowl it was a dream matchup it was too perfect in the Super Bowl and more importantly rooting getting a chance to kind of shove it in out Davis's face and not only does he go in being the extreme underdog he kicks their rear end I mean it was like total blowout it's the ultimate referendum on Jon Gruden as a coach I have no idea how you can put that number 10 so why isn't our number 10 revenge game fire on the list simple it was too easy Gruden barely broke a sweat it was really unfair because that was his raiders team that he built and the reason the Raiders lose to the Bucks is because Gruden knows everything there is to know about Rich Gannon in that Raider offense he knew the raiders plays before the raiders knew the raiders plays they ran three interceptions back four touchdowns against the league's MVP [Music] [Applause] complete sweet revenge for Jon Gruden can you imagine the sweetness of that victory I can't remember coach looking like he had more fun in a game that Gruden had in that game and when Jon Gruden left the Raiders went down the tubes right yeah we're horrible well we all suck but he's not playing well how we suck am I saying it's because of Gruden being gone horrible we had seven seasons of 11 or more losses bring back bring back Don brewed into me to me Don Shula's revenge in the 1971 AFC Championship game just missed making our list the Colts owner Carol rosenbloom never forgave him for losing Super Bowl three of course that the Jets lost the Super Bowl I went to heavily favored my relationship with the owner was never quite the same after that loss damaged their relationship intractable egos their hard-nosed tough guys competitors and I don't think any of them ever apologize to anybody [Applause] the number nine revenge game of all time [Music] in Green Bay coach Mike Holmgren reached hero status after the Packers brought the Lombardi Trophy home for the first time in almost three decades the bad blood started pumping three years later when homeward cruised West to take a sweeter gig the Seahawks promised him a - had job GM and coach and they made him an offer he couldn't refuse as a coach you cannot ask for any more then I've been given here there was a sense of betrayal on the Packers fans because there was some acrimony there was bitterness about home grens departure that was certainly a part of the build-up and then you get to 2003 we end up playing the Packers in that playoff game back there Lambeau Field then of course Mike wanted to win the game for the Seahawks and himself just to show what they missed when he's gone for four quarters holmgren appeared to have a real shot at sticking it to a smaller team it looked like they put it together to win in Green Bay which is something I don't think anybody had done to that point cippec takes the snap hands off Alexander [Music] and we will go to overtime with revenge up for grabs Matt Hasselbeck added fuel to the fire with his statement during the overtime coin toss [Music] I said who's that quarterback is that Favre now over there you don't do that I was amused then I said you better go back it up what happened came back to fight up you know we're in the posterior [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this one's interesting cuz it's the revenge of that Packer squad against their old coach Mike Holmgren and the Seattle Seahawks back to the Pacific Northwest this game is a whole city's revenge on Terrell Owens there's a lot of bad blood especially the Eagle fans seeing Owens going to their most hated rival but that was palpable he has a passion for the game I don't mind the personality after losing three straight NFC championships Philadelphia signed Terrell Owens in 2004 to fill a glaring need at wide receiver did great things for the Eagles I mean they had their best offensive season they ever had with him it was exciting McNabb became a better quarterback with TL you felt the entire year they were going to go to Super Bowl tio proved to be the missing piece to the Eagles Super Bowl puzzle he could have been a legend here in Philadelphia I can't think of a player that was more beloved in the city and it all turned just like that in the offseason realize he had a bad contract and when they came back for training camp he didn't perform and they wound up sending him home Terrell Owens has been suspended for conduct detrimental of the team this guy went out into the driveway took his shirt off and held an impromptu press conference trying to count today and that's it the three local news choppers were up in the air someone saying this is the driveway workout was theater of the absurd that I have never seen I think that the opinion of Terrell Owens at that time was good riddance [Applause] and then on top of everything else after the Eagles let him go he signed with the Dallas Cowboys certainly made him public enemy number one in the minds of the fans this is America's team and I feel right at home Owens arrival in Dallas set up our number eight revenge game in Philly so you have the circus coming to town with Owens them probably the most hated guy coming into Philly this weekend it was so huge it had the feel of an NFC Championship Game [Applause] not only did owns not play well he played poorly he starts dropping balls early in the game like the whole game he didn't have a catch they do that is the game would go along he would get more frustrated if he wasn't getting the ball like he would get more frustrated I think the Eagles really made a concerted effort to say hey we're not gonna let this guy beat him and the end of the day he has three receptions forty-five yards Dallas loses by a couple of touchdowns he was very savor it hey Tony Dunne jeez revenge against the Bucks just missed making our list going into the game the storylines were enormous the Bucks were the defending Super Bowl champions [Applause] the Colts arguably had one of the top offenses in the league Tony Dunne G's return to Tampa the team that ran him out of town done Gees cold storm from 28 points behind to earn payback for their coach [Music] 20 Tigers half the ball is down the kick is up it was we prevent but our next game had enough ill-will to spark a 50 year grudge Bobby Lane was a heck of a player he was their leader he was their spirit he was the face of the Detroit Lions the greatest comeback quarterback of all time the original captain come back Bobby Lane led Detroit to championships in 1952 and 53 and this fan favorite played hard both on and off the field well there was quite a bit off the face of Bobby Lane accomplished more on less sleep than anybody in the history of the National Football League he could go out and spend hours the night before drinking and clear it up by the fourth quarter Lane would have one of his magical comebacks he's a legend here in 1957 the Lions grew tired of their quarterbacks off the field antics and signed veteran Tobin wrote when Lane broke his leg wrote guided the Lions to a championship the next season Lane was traded to Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field for Millian favorite Bobby Lane led the Steelers in the letter conference clash with Detroit a 12 year Pro veteran Lane showed no love for the Lions my dad the feeling was indeed yuichi 11 seconds left on southern field goal attempt is blocked by bill glass that the game ends the defendant dies I don't know that Bobby felt any great satisfaction after that game because it wasn't as if he was necessarily depriving the Lions of anything either they weren't going anywhere that year the game may have been a tie but Lane still got his revenge is not the Revenge of that game it's the revenge by the curse playing when he was traded as he left Detroit so the Detroit Lions will never win another championship for 50 years and they haven't not only that since that time the Detroit Lions have won only one playoff game they also became the first team in history to go on 16 [Music] the position that has been most cursed on the liens since Bobby Lane left is the quarterback position Gregg Landry is the only Pro Bowl quarterback in one year 1972 there was no other Pro Bowl quarterback since Bobby Lane how can you go 50 years and have one full bowl season by the quarterback person Bobby Lane is still in effect I like to think that Bobby wherever he is is enjoying it very much [Music] the origin of our number six revenge game dates back to 2006 when Eric Mangini left New England to become the head coach of the New York Jets Eric Mangini left Bill Belichick's organization after Belichick basically said to him you shouldn't leave to go coach the Jets that absolutely drove Bill Belichick insane the bad blood between mangini and Belichick was on display during their infamous postgame handshakes you see dignitaries from rival Nations spend more time shaking hands or at least faking like it meant something you want to talk about the game somewhere I could get in a post game analysis here bill I've had enough of that the animosity between the two escalated thanks to the spy gate scandal NFL security person confiscated a camera that was on the Patriots sideline in which the Patriots are accused of taping the Jets and some of the signals that they were sending in Patriots live behind you know an Iron Curtain and Eric Mangini he leaked out that he's been taping other teams play calls and hand signals but this is part of the problem if you're Belichick and you leave your assistants with a bad taste in their mouth then they're liable to turn on you later that season the Patriots hosted the Jets in what will become the number 6 revenge game of all time this was going to be today but the Patriots got their revenge for Eric Mangini and the Jets blowing the whistle it started out that way too I remember there was a big play right but that game did not become the blow out that I think a lot of Petrie 'its fans were hoping for it was an absolutely miserable day in Foxborough it was cold and wet it was bendy there was snow on the ground you know the Patriots did end up winning the game to the tailback in the eye remember the handshake after the game the intrigue of that was just as big as the actual game I guess they were expecting him to either hug him or deque I'm not sure which all of us are also wondering it was gonna be the stare down at the WWE wrestling stare down our number 6 revenge game is only a small part of this revenge tale when Eric Mangini narked on the pages of Spygate it cost the Patriots their reputation this Belichick really a genius or just you just have the right film that's what really upset Belichick you think we cheated to get this dynasty fine now we're gonna do it without the aid of video cameras we're just gonna come out and drive you into the ground and they did it boys they were telling arrested lead to kiss off and for the first time a team has won all 16 regular season games but in the end it was the Giants who got the last line one step shy of creating the greatest revenge trail since the guy in the Princess Bride inigo montoya no one Bill Belichick well he's gonna focus on ever is the one he's never gonna feel good about what happened that year but at the time I'm sure he felt pretty good about beating the Jets when Cedric Benson arrived in Chicago in 2005 this future star flamed out they drafted the guy fourth overall Chicago Bears select Cedric Benson if you remember he wept on draft day he did not want to go to Chicago the guy simply did not work hard was not in good shape left that exhibition game early and when he did get on the field he would moan and groan just a total tool nobody rolled their eyes or turn their head when they heard Benson got released by the Bears Benson was out of football into the Cincinnati Bengals gave him a second chance when he came here he portrays himself is this humble guy showed himself as a hard worker and he was nothing but a prince and you can't ask for more of running back then he's what he's done here in Cincinnati Benson just racking up the yard as Benson a whale of a day in 2009 Benson got his shot at revenge there was actually some trash talking going on the week leading up Benson saying that he thought the Bears had blackballed him when he was out of the NFL they were unfair about how they treated him here when they drafted him number four and he underachieved who treated who like the Bears are still in my blood I'm a monster the Midway son and if you're wrong the monsters of the Midway I'm like Cujo on your car window Cujo nor the 85 Bears could have stopped Benson who rushed for a career-high 189 yards he was like a new guy I mean he looked like the elite running back we all thought the Bears were gonna get out of taxes when I made him a top five pick there's no question he was definitely keep tough to play the Bears he wanted to prove a point look at him you see Energizer Bunny Sanford Fitz showing a burst and acceleration that I don't think the Chicago franchise news that he had that Cedric Benson just run rough shot was kind of embarrassing give it a set [Music] separate Benson is gonna have just a huge taste of satisfaction he came back and showed everybody here he could play when he wants to ready to go you got to go Benson his dude well he got the Bears back pretty good Paul Brown really was to Cleveland Browns the mighty Cleveland Browns come charging onto the field and the capable mentor who put them on top coach Paul Brown the man behind our number four revenge game coached the Cleveland Browns to seven championships but in the early sixties Brown failed to build the winning relationship with new owner Art Modell he didn't like my being in the office of 7:30 in the morning with that relationship fooled until in January 60 three I called him into my office silly we're gonna go different directions that should my father to his core Paul Brown was buried there for many years he really felt that it was something that he didn't deserve it puts so much of his life into the team and was his life and it was taken away from him for really no good reason Bob Brown was never gonna forget ever five long years he went into exile Brown reservists in 1968 when he became owner and head coach of the expansion Cincinnati Bengals you look fine thank you feel pretty good I happily settled down again to live in a normal life I like it turns out Brown spent his hiatus plotting his revenge down to the smallest detail we wondered why we look so much like the Cleveland Browns Art Modell objected to that you stole my uniform he said and my dad says well who stole whose uniform in 1970 AFL and NFL merged Art Modell takes two million dollars to move to the AFC they're placed in the same division so now you've got these two enemies mean twice a year and if you don't think that's big you don't know what big is Himmel is damn important from that day forward every game between the two teams has been fueled by revenge and hatred [Applause] but few of those games could compare with the first two meetings if those games were played today in the Internet age we would have built up Paul Brown against Art Modell to Armageddon levels this is the day Paul Brown returns to the city where he founded a football dynasty in that first meeting the Browns won the game [Applause] the Bengals had led most of the way in the Browns rallied in the fourth quarter won the game by a field goal there were two slow bill after the game Brown was so distraught he refused to shake hands with a man who replaced him in Cleveland former protege Blanton Collier not only did he not shake Blanton Colliers hand but I've heard reports that he never spoke to Blanton Collier again in Cincinnati another of pro football's great new rivalries was preparing to step into its second stage of development playing Cleveland and Cincinnati he wasn't going to settle for us to not win the game was close milk morons catch that up a touchdown sweet by number 44 Leroy Kelly and the Browns seemed on their way to breaking their rare two-game losing streak we responded the second half and we scored a couple of times and was was able to win that game for Brown who never allotted runs off the field into the locker room the head of his team and after the game calls it the biggest win he's ever had in his life the only time I saw Paul Brown cry was when we beat Cleveland for the first time beating Cleveland was probably more important in my dad's mind than anything else that happen that here including winning the division he waited a long time for that moment and the revenge was sweet a long line of people want to exact revenge from Keyshawn Johnson but none like Wayne Chrebet and we're betting Keyshawn those two weren't real fond of each other first year played I was a rookie waiting for bet yeah so when he had number 88 was kind of like what do you do the feud grew as number 19 criticized number 80 and when they squared off in 2000 the player Keyshawn once dismissed as a flashlight eclipsed the star Martin with a halfback option he's got compared to the endzone touchdown for veteran the Jets get a small taste of the revenge by but not a big enough slice to make our list I was at that game and that is as electric and atmosphere as I've ever seen who's about as good a hype as you're ever gonna get for a week to game Joe Montana led San Fran to four Super Bowl titles in the 80s in the Bay Area he was bigger than the Golden Gate Bridge but you would never think a guy as great as Joe Montana and what he had done for the San Francisco 49ers would ever be traded but in 1993 Montana was dealt to the Chiefs against the wishes of Niner nation oh wow every 49er fans worst nightmare the heartbreaking traumatic I still haven't recovered that other red jersey on in the wrong number he's wearing number 19 it was stranger than it would be today because again that was just sort of the outset of free agency it was huge huge news for him to be in another uniform and now for him to get a chance to go back and play against his old team that he had done so many things for it was big big big time use the Montana trade opened the door for his understudy Steve Young the 49ers are now Steve Young's team but San Francisco is not Steve Youngstown because Steve Young hasn't won a Super Bowl emotionally I think there's a lot of people the berries like they went with them in the San Francisco Bay Area there were probably just as many people rooting for the Chiefs in Joe Montana as it were for Steve Young in the 49ers it's hard to say good game just the second game of the year but this is this done white you're farming the pilot lights out and Joe Montana as I suspected played flawless football formation play picked by Montana [Applause] I counted on the 49ers being protective of Steve Young and desperately trying to win for him what neither he nor I counted on was the Chiefs had this crazy yearning to please Dadda their new quarterback Steve Young took a pounding Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith and company just tumbled him into submission [Music] it's Steve Young dragging himself off the ground and saying to Chiefs defenders what do you have against me what did I ever do to you guys the Chiefs were so fired up to win that game for Joe Montana this 49er Montana bono Whitmore whatever his history was learned he was the master he's in many ways one of the greatest as far as many Super Bowl it was win-win because Joe won the game and Steve took what he got from that game and channeled it into a Super Bowl trial and even after he wanted I don't think he's ever been accepted as Montana's equal that was the best team of the decade for the 49ers they only lost three games one of the games they lost was at Arrowhead - Joe Montana that was just Joe Montana showing everybody he's the man revenge is sweet and no one knows that better than Chad Pennington you can't throw it any better but he just threw it after eight seasons in New York the Jets dumped him for Brett Favre a year later with the AFC East at stake he made his old team pay I didn't want to play the game of football [Music] get out there on the 50 put on the gloves and let's go at it Pennington pumps steps up looks right throws right towards the endzone [Applause] the following season it was far food got revenge on his former team if they don't want him in Green Bay and he wants to play go play someplace else they were just hoping it would be in Siberia they didn't think it would be right across the street in the same division Brett Favre came back to beat the Packers because he'd made no bones about it Brett Favre wanted his revenge on Ted Thompson and he pulled it off our number two revenge game began taking shape in 2007 after Favre had spent 16 seasons with the Packers the Brett Favre retirement watch is over I am officially retiring if it were only that simple news breaking on Wednesday that Favre was considering a comeback Favre indeed came back as a jet at season's end he retired again sort of Brett Favre is a future Viking just waiting for his arm to heal and a Viking source told me that the official word came out that brett has decided to remain retired what what's going on okay Brett make up your mind I can't stand Brett Favre ending his retirement for the second year in a row officially signing on Tuesday with the Minnesota Vikings [Music] in week 4 of 2009 Favre would go head-to-head against his old pack he hated the Vikings and all of a sudden he's he's a purple people eater and he's looking across the field with that big G on the helmet it had to be just unbelievable he was nervous for that game he had a lot of trouble sleeping that Sunday night before that Monday night game everybody cared about Brett Favre facing the Packers again emotions on both sides of the ball the biggest game on the play the concern was will he come out and try to do too much Favre played spectacular [Music] [Applause] [Music] I was the person that was like no no no no no I don't want him on the team hey this gets my whole life I don't want to stop hating him and then of course he beats Green Bay and you're like oh yeah yeah he's ours now suck it 3 1 2 3 in an encore to our number 2 revenge game bar played in Green Bay for the first time ever not wearing green the reaction from the fans was a lot more vitriolic than anybody could have ever foreseen I don't think the enmity was really there on the players side it was just there on the fan site we wanted to vomit when they saw him dressed in purple oh my god Favre is in a purple uniform I can't deal with this I've never heard boos that loud it was unanimous everyone was building and he didn't bat an eye he played as well as you could play four touchdowns in the return to Lambeau Brett bar has seven touchdowns and zero interceptions this year against his former team Brett Favre came through as he often does in a very emotional situation and was able to get the win Brett fire proved to me that night that there's not anything that he can't handle satisfaction to Bret bar what a great home Brett Favre got the last laugh wee-bey Packer fans can't wait for Brett Favre to retire I mean really retire they don't want to take him on twice a year they don't want to pull against him this is the greatest Packer of them all AMC championship Patriots Colts is the best rivalry and the NFL in the past decade one of the great rivalries of all time but during the first half of the decade this storied rivalry was completely one-sided Patriots have pretty much had their number before a game even started you knew that somehow the coach were going to lose that game 15 seconds to go [Music] the biggest meltdowns occurred during the playoffs twice the Patriots eliminated the Colts enroute to a Super Bowl championship Hayden didn't have his best games you know against the Patriots [Music] Belichick and the Pats would just squat on [Music] [Applause] they had basically been the punchline to the Patriots Peyton Manning can't win the big one why can't you beat the Patriots you're hearing that and you realize and that's kind of what you're gonna be judged on unfortunately but I always believed that we would win a championship when our team is good enough in 2006 the Colts had home-field advantage and many thought this would be their time the Colts are a passing team they need a fast surface they lost a number of those playoff games in Foxborough on cold windy snowy muddy days the Colts offense does not work efficiently in that kind of weather but our number one revenge game didn't play out as expected [Applause] and you come out you fall behind 21 to 3 and you think here we go again oh my goodness I thought it was our time what is going on talking about being the darkest before the dawn it was it was pretty damn dark this game's up Patriots are going back to the Superbowl I went over to the offensive guys on the sidelines I said hey it's still our time I promise you we're gonna win this game Peyton Manning he rose to the occasion against a great New England defense they could not stop him he'd really kind of willed the Colts to victory in that game you just got the feeling that this was gonna be the game that the coats were gonna do it 22 when you've got luck like that you probably got a good chance to win so he's gone society but I'm gonna right there I was looking for clocking they got over a minute to go and I got Tom Brady at quarterback I bit my head down and then I said dear Lord one time he does not let Tom make this comeback drive and allow us to win this game of Super Bowl that would be a good thing [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that was a game where Peyton Manning to find his career he won his first Super the fact that he had to go through the Patriots is fitting I mean he loses that game doesn't get the Super Bowl now he's being looked at as like a Dan Marino paint man to come back and bury all those ghosts finally win a big one the biggest revenge game for a single player maybe ever as long as football is played somebody will do somebody wrong and revenge will always be the best retribution turns out not everyone is happy with our list a good revenge game other people have to care about it the whole country cared about Terrell Owens against the Eagles I don't think anybody noticed the bengals bears game in that a lot that's right that's Benson's big comeback his revenge would be a feature played his ass off here and then they cut it they played like New Moon dome and you can pet it that if we left you with a bad taste in your mouth don't even think about getting revenge on us [Music]

Channel: NFL Films

Views: 1,310,994

Keywords: NFL, Football, NFL Films, American Football

Id: hGYpv82pffA

Length: 39min 58sec (2398 seconds)

Published: Thu May 07 2020