Each offseason, there appears to be increasingly change all through the NFL, which frequently leads to increasingly alternatives for revenge.
There may be loads of that to start out off the 2024 common season. Listed here are the 4 finest revenge video games of Week 1:
4. New York Jets at San Francisco 49ers (Sept. 9)
This one might not leap off the display straight away, however the deeper you look into it, the extra it will make sense.
Aaron Rodgers had Jets followers feeling hopeful as soon as once more forward of the 2023 season. Nonetheless, after simply 4 offensive performs within the season opener on “Monday Evening Soccer,” the veteran quarterback was taken down and suffered a torn Achilles.
That was in opposition to the Buffalo Payments a 12 months in the past, however the participant that introduced Rodgers down was linebacker Leonard Floyd, who’s now a member of the 49ers.
Rodgers, 40, has had a full season and offseason to get wholesome, so he should now put his Achilles harm behind him in his return to the sector on “Monday Evening Soccer” with Floyd lining up throughout from him as soon as once more.
3. Pittsburgh Steelers at Atlanta Falcons (Sept. 8)
Gamers aren’t the one issue relating to revenge video games.
The Falcons fired Arthur Smith following their third straight 7-10 season with him as their head coach.
Smith’s tenure in Atlanta was disappointing, as he was extremely criticized for his utilization of the crew’s prime playmakers in operating again Bijan Robinson, broad receiver Drake London and tight finish Kyle Pitts.
Nonetheless, he wasn’t a free agent for lengthy, as lower than a month later, the Steelers employed him to be their new offensive coordinator.
This offseason, Smith has been retooling Pittsburgh’s offense, which has been one of many worst items within the league for the previous couple of years.
He now will get to show he is nonetheless the proficient offensive-minded coach he was when he helped lead the Tennessee Titans to the AFC title recreation in a visit to face his former crew.
2. Los Angeles Rams at Detroit Lions (Sept. 8)
These two groups confronted off within the wild-card spherical of the playoffs final season.
It was quarterback Matthew Stafford’s return to Detroit for the primary time since being traded to the Rams in alternate for quarterback Jared Goff. Nonetheless, it was Goff and the Lions who bought their revenge in a 24-23 win, ending Los Angeles’ 2023 marketing campaign.
Each groups are actually seeking to decide up the place they left off final season as contenders within the NFC.
Will Goff make the Rams remorse buying and selling him as soon as once more whereas coming off a four-year, $212M contract extension, or can Stafford lastly get his revenge on the Lions on “Sunday Evening Soccer?”
1. Baltimore Ravens at Kansas Metropolis Chiefs (Sept. 5)
The kickoff to the 2024 common season may very well be the very best recreation of the 12 months.
Nearly seven months in the past, the Chiefs ended the Ravens’ 2023 season by defeating them 17-10 within the AFC Championship recreation.
Kansas Metropolis in the end received Tremendous Bowl LVIII and now has an opportunity to turn into the primary crew in NFL historical past to three-peat.
Baltimore, although, might get its revenge and knock the Chiefs’ plans off monitor early, bettering on quarterback Lamar Jackson’s disappointing 1-4 file in opposition to quarterback Patrick Mahomes in his profession.
There’s at all times the added bonus of John Harbaugh having served as a protege to Andy Reid, too.