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From a Super Bowl rematch to some personal grudges, here are the best revenge games of the 2023 NFL season
We now know the full 2023 NFL schedule.
We can talk about the best games, the best matchups, the thrilling meetings of rookie quarterbacks, and more. But no NFL schedule release is complete with a look at the best revenge games.
From teams seeking revenge for a critical loss last year, to free agents looking to prove a former team wrong, here are the best revenge games of the 2023 NFL schedule.
This has potential “Game of the Year” written all over it.
And the revenge factor is a big reason why.
This will be the fifth meeting between these two teams in recent years, and while Joe Burrow and the Bengals got the better of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the first three, it was the Chiefs who came out on top in the most recent meeting, advancing to Super Bowl LVII where the defeated the Philadelphia Eagles.
Burrow and the Bengals would love nothing more than to win the rematch, and exact some revenge for a heartbreaking loss in their final game of the season.
Buffalo Bills vs. Cincinnati Bengals: Week 9
While the Bengals might be out for revenge in Week 17, earlier in the season they will be the hunted, when they take on the Buffalo Bills.
Buffalo had their eyes on another meeting with the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, but then the Bengals came to upstate New York and spoiled that dream. On a snowy Buffalo afternoon, and with teammate Damar Hamlin in the house, the Bills looked lost against Cincinnati, getting down early and struggling on both sides of the football.
One has to think that the Bills are hoping to put on a better show this time around.
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Turning to the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys saw their season end for the second-straight year at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers.
Two seasons ago, that came at home, when the Cowboys entered the postseason as the NFC East champions and the No. 3 seed. However, they drew the proverbial “team nobody wants to play” in San Francisco, and the 49ers came into town and knocked off Dallas by a final score of 23-17 in the Wild Card round.
Then last year the roles were reversed somewhat, but the result was the same. San Francisco was coming off a win over Seattle in the Wild Card round, and played host to the Cowboys, who knocked off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tom Brady’s final NFL game. The game was a rather ugly affair, won by the 49ers by a final score of 19-12. Brock Purdy’s dream season would continue, while Dak Prescott and company were sent home by San Francisco for the second time in as many years.
Sometimes revenge games take on a more personal nature.
Jamaal Williams enjoyed the best season of his NFL career a season ago, rushing for a career-high 1,066 yards and 17 touchdowns, a mark which led the league.
And he did that for the Lions.
But Williams was entering free agency, and instead of cashing in on his production through a contract extension with Detroit, the parties failed to reach a new agreement, and the team added David Montgomery in free agency.
Williams then signed with the Saints, and let his feelings be known this offseason.
“They been done with me. I could tell,” Williams told reporters at his introductory news conference. “The offer they gave me I feel like was very just disrespectful and just showing that they really didn’t want me to be there like that.”
You might want to have this game on when Week 13 comes around.
San Francisco 49ers vs. Philadelphia Eagles: Week 13
The San Francisco 49ers — and their fans — have had this game circled on their calendars since the moment the NFC Championship Game ended.
Ever since the Brock Purdy went down early in that game, and the Eagles rolled the the Super Bowl, the 49ers have had the rematch on their mind. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel said recently that despite the loss, San Francisco was the better team. “We lost because we played with 10 people,” Samuel told Complex. “I ain’t going to keep going on about what could’ve happened and what would’ve happened but yeah, it would’ve definitely been a different outcome.”
Samuel and the 49ers will get their chance to back those words up in Week 13.
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Firing a head coach isn’t a shocking development. Firing a head coach with moderate success and two seasons only to hire your unproven golfing buddy? That’s pure Jim Irsay.
It’s hard to imagine Frank Reich has too much beef with the Colts, but he would love to go toe-to-toe with the man who would eventually take his job, beating him with his own rookie QB. The Colts and Panthers are in similar organizational positions as teams with solid rosters in dire need of QB help. How we get to see that play out on the field.
Miami Dolphins vs. Kansas City Chiefs: Week 9
Tyreek Hill revenge game!
The Chiefs made the bold decision that they could move on without their best receiver, and heck, they were right. After all, if you can win a Super Bowl without a top guy then it’s proof your team can withstand any storm.
Hill is the most important playmaker on the Dolphins, and now it’s not only his chance to stuff the stat sheet against his own team, but turn people into believers that the Dolphins can take the next step and become a factor in the AFC. A statement game and a revenge game rolled into one? Sign me up.
This is the first time Davante Adams will get to face his old team after being traded away. Sure, some of the teeth is out of this without Aaron Rodgers — but it’s still a chance for Adams to make a statement about his old team choosing not to pay him and sending him to play for Josh McDaniels.
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs: Week 11
A chance to exorcise the demons of a Super Bowl loss?
Hard to find a bigger revenge game than that.
