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Everyone is talking about the return of Brett Favre to Lambeau Field. Rarely do you see such an iconic player not only leave his team, but also lead a division rival in a game with first place implications, or do you?

 

I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 “grudge matches,” since the NFL merged in 1970, between Hall of Fame caliber players and their former teams. Who had the last laugh?

 

10) December 28, 1980 Ken Stabler loses at Oakland 27-7 in a playoff game - He is not a Hall of Famer, but he is one of the most famous quarterbacks in NFL history and he has been a HOF finalist several times for induction. This is also the only game where the rematch was actually a playoff game.

 

In Stabler's 10 years with the Raiders he went 69-26-1 as their starting quarterback and led the team to five consecutive AFC Championship games and a Super Bowl XI victory over the Minnesota Vikings. The Raiders went 9-7 and missed the playoffs with Stabler in 1979.

 

Jim Plunkett served as their backup that year and in 1980, they decided to go with Plunkett and send Stabler packing. The Oakland Raiders got off to just a 2-3 start, but turned it around by finishing with an 11-5 record and a Wild Card Birth. Waiting for them in the Wild Card Round was Stabler and the Houston Oilers, who also finished 11-5. Stabler would not have his revenge this day in Oakland, going 15-for-26 with 243 yards, zero touchdown passes, two picks and a QB rating of just 57.1. Plunkett did not exactly dominate the game going just 8-for-23 with 168 yards, two touchdown passes, one pick and a QB rating of just 72.4.

The important part was that the Raiders won the game 27-7 and would go on to with the first of their two Super Bowls with Plunkett, who would win the Super Bowl MVP award that season. Stabler would never play in a playoff game again, much less be an effective NFL starter retiring after the 1984 season with the New Orleans Saints.

 

9) October 08, 2000 Thurman Thomas hosts the Buffalo Bills - The first of two Bills to appear on this list, instead of signing with a NFC team, Thomas went right to the enemy, signing with the Bills’ hated rival, the Miami Dolphins. Thomas would meet the Bills in Week Six and the strong 4-1 Dolphins. He would have seven carries for 24 yards, three receptions for 26 yards and no touchdowns as the Dolphins won 22-13. The Bills would go on to have an 8-8 record and would miss the playoffs, while the Dolphins went 11-5 and would win in the Wild Card Round against the Indianapolis Colts before being shut out by the Oakland Raiders in the Divisional Round.

The Dolphins even had a running back shine in that Wild Card win; going 40 carries for 209 yards, including the game winning touchdown in OT. That running back was Lamar Smith though. Thomas leaving the Bills neither really hurt the Bills nor helped the Dolphins. He would play only nine games that year, rushing 28 times for 136 yards with no touchdowns, before suffering a knee injury that would end his career. He was hurt prior to the matchup in Buffalo and would never wear the Dolphin uniform in front of the fans that cheered him the majority of his Hall of Fame career. The Dolphins won that game without Thomas 33-6.

 

8) November 12, 1995 Deion Sanders faces the San Francisco 49ers - Sanders had a couple of reunions with his former teams, but none was bigger than in 1995. Sanders had left the Atlanta Falcons in 1994 to join the San Francisco 49ers for a chance to win a Super Bowl. The signing worked well and the 49ers dominated the NFC going 13-3 and beating the San Diego Chargers 49-26 in the Super Bowl.

Sanders only signed a one-year deal and the next year he decided to break the bank and sign the biggest contract at the time for a defensive player. He tested his luck with the Dallas Cowboys; the team the 49ers had beaten 38-28 the year before in the NFC Championship Game. Furthermore, these two teams had met in the NFC Championship Game every year from 1992-1994, with the winner going on to win the Super Bowl.

This was the premier matchup in the NFC during the 1990s, but the 49ers got off to a slow start that year, entering the game at 5-4. The Cowboys rushed out to a fast start going 8-1. This figured to be an important game for homefield advantage in the playoffs. 

Sanders would make his debut that season in Week Nine against another of his former teams, the Atlanta Falcons. He didn't have much impact in this 49ers game a couple of weeks later as the 49ers won 38-20 in Dallas. WR Jerry Rice would have five catches for 161 yards and one touchdown and the 49ers won despite QB Elvis Grbac starting for Steve Young.

The Cowboys would have the last laugh that season though. They did end up with homefield advantage while the 49ers would not get a chance to duplicate their win in Dallas. (They lost to the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round, whereas the Cowboys would beat those Packers in the NFC Championship Game on their way to a third Super Bowl in four years with a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX.)

Sanders would go on to have three more All-Pro first team seasons with the Cowboys and would make four Pro Bowl teams, before stints in 2000 with the Washington Redskins and the Baltimore Ravens (2004 and 2005).

 

7) October 08, 1995 Warren Moon hosts the Houston Oilers – Moon played for four NFL teams, but he made his Hall of Fame credentials with the Houston Oilers. The Oilers decided to go with the younger Cody Carlson after the 1993 season and Moon went to Minnesota, as many people felt they were a quarterback away from contending for the Super Bowl. Sounds familiar? 

Moon would get the chance to play his old team in 1995 and he did very well throwing for 289 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-17 OT win over the Oilers, in which RB Robert Smith ran for the game winning score.

Neither side really got the last laugh. Houston went 2-14 their first year without Moon and head coach Jack Pardee was let go after a 1-9 start. Jeff Fisher took over the team and they selected QB Steve McNair the following year, but let him sit and learn behind Chris Chandler, the starter in this grudge match.

The Oilers would go on to 7-9, which was a good season considering the 2-14 season the year before and would move to Tennessee after the 1996 season. Moon would finish the season with 33 touchdown passes and a Pro Bowl season, but his team finished only 8-8 and missed the playoffs. By 1996, he lost his starting job to Brad Johnson and would never be a relevant NFL starting quarterback again. While he put up good numbers in Minnesota, they were never able to turn that into the elusive Super Bowl title they brought him there to deliver.

 

6) October 19, 2003 Bruce Smith returns to Buffalo - The Buffalo Bills had a very nice run of Super Bowl appearances from 1990 to 1993, but could never win it. Their best defensive player, and arguably best overall player, was Smith, who recorded 171 sacks with the team as their star defensive end. After the 1999 season, the two parted ways, with the Bills in the process of rebuilding and Smith looking for that elusive Super Bowl ring. He went to the Washington Redskins, who were in the process of trying to secure notable veteran players for a Super Bowl run, none more prominent than Deion Sanders and Smith.

The two teams did not meet until 2003, when Smith was 40-years-old. The Redskins were 3-3 entering the game as were the Bills. It didn't matter, as both teams would go on to miss the playoffs and lose more than 10 games that season. The result of the game was a 24-7 loss for the Redskins. Smith would pass Reggie White later that year for the career lead in sacks with 200 and would retire the following the season. Smith did not record a sack in that game and, in fact, had only one tackle.

 

5) September 29, 1991 Ronnie Lott hosts the San Francisco 49ers - You are going to see the 49ers on this list a lot, which is a testament to all the good players they had that went on to have long Hall of Fame careers. None of their players were more dominant than their star defensive back Lott, who won four Super Bowls and made nine Pro Bowls with the 49ers. In 1990, the 49ers would lose to the New York Giants 15-13 in the NFC Championship Game, which would be Lott's last game with the club. At 32-years-old, he left the 49ers to play for the Oakland Raiders who were coming off an AFC Championship appearance in 1990 and looked prime to compete for a Super Bowl. Lott met up with the 49ers in Week Five of that season. Lott would not record an interception or a sack, but the Raiders did win the game 12-6.

Lott started all 16 games that season, led the NFL in interceptions with eight, was a Pro Bowler and First Team All Pro and helped lead the Raiders to a 9-7 record and the playoffs, where they lost 10-6 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card Round.

However, that would be his last Pro Bowl and after another year with the Raiders, he played two more for the New York Jets before retiring after the 1994 season. The 49ers would miss the playoffs with a 10-6 record that year, but would go on to play in the next three NFC Championship Games, winning the Super Bowl in the 1994 season.

 

4) September 12, 1993 Reggie White hosts the Philadelphia Eagles - White also played against the Green Bay Packers as a 39-year-old defensive end with the Carolina Panthers, a game the Panthers won 31-14. That did not have the same intrigue the Philadelphia game had. His Packer head coach Mike Holmgren was in Seattle by then and the Packers Super Bowl run was a memory. Favre was obviously still there, but the Packers were 5-6 entering that game to the Panthers 5-7.

The more interesting reunion game for White was back in 1993, when after shocking the world by leaving the Philadelphia Eagles and signing with the Green Bay Packers, he played the Eagles and most of his old teammates in Week Two the next season. White did record a sack in that game, but the Eagles would actually win the game 20-17, holding Favre to just 111 yards passing and two interceptions.

White did have the last laugh in this matchup, as he would make the playoffs every year with the Packers from 1993 to 1998 and won a Super Bowl in 1996. He also appeared in the Super Bowl in 1997, went to six Pro Bowls and won the AP Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1998. The Eagles, on the other hand, would have only two winning seasons from 1993 to 1998, made only two playoff appearances and won only one playoff game.

 

3) October 05, 2003 Emmitt Smith returns to Dallas - Smith probably had the least success of any player in his reunion / revenge attempt. The Dallas Cowboys decided to go forward with the younger Troy Hambrick, instead of the 33-years-old Smith.

His last year in Dallas was 2002, and in 2003, they met in a grudge match. The game didn't go well for Smith; his Arizona Cardinals lost 24-7. Smith's stat line read six carries for -1 yard and two receptions for two yards. Hambrick had 23 carries for 59 yards and zero touchdowns. Smith would have a miserable year with the Cardinals starting just five games and rushing 90 times for 256 yards and two touchdowns. He would return the following year to post 937 yards rushing and nine touchdowns, retiring after the 2004 season. The team did not do much though, going 10-22 in his two seasons there. 

Hambrick lasted one year in Dallas, rushing for 972 yards and five touchdowns as the Cowboys went 10-6 for their new head coach, Bill Parcells. They made the playoffs, but lost in the first round to the Carolina Panthers. The Cowboys struggled after 2004 and would not make the playoffs again until 2006. Hambrick was let go after just one year and would ironically join Smith in Arizona where he backed up Smith in 2004, which happened to also be Hambrick's last year in the NFL.

 

2) November 03, 2002 - Jerry Rice hosts the San Francisco 49ers - When you think the San Francisco 49ers, Rice is one of the first names to come to mind. The 49ers went in a different direction after the 2000 season and Rice signed with the Oakland Raiders. He had a nice run there from 2001 to 2002 as the Raiders went to the AFC Championship both seasons and many people thought they would contend for the Super Bowl. The Raiders started the season 4-0, but lost their next three games going into the game with the 49ers. Rice would have six receptions for 74 yards, but no touchdowns and the Raiders lost their fourth straight game, this time by the score of 23-20. Rice's star receiver replacement, Terrell Owens dominated the game with 12 catches for 191 yards.

Rice would have the last laugh. The Raiders lost only one more regular season game and would go on to win the AFC Championship, before losing to Tampa Bay in the Super Bowl. The 49ers also made the playoffs, but lost to those same Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Divisional Round.

The 2002 one would be Rice's last 1,000-yard season; he played two more seasons before retiring after the 2004 season. Owens would last just one more year in San Francisco, before being traded to Philadelphia, which began San Francisco's six straight losing seasons, a streak that is still active entering 2009.

 

1) September 11, 1994 Joe Montana hosts the San Francisco 49ers - The best grudge match in the history of the NFL to date, this pitted the defending NFC Runner up versus the defending AFC Runner Up in a Week Two matchup.

Everyone knows the story; Montana was hurt in the 1990 NFC Championship Game and would miss the next two seasons. Steve Young became the starter and, in 1992, won the MVP award and led the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game, losing to the Dallas Cowboys.

Do the 49ers go with their 31-year old MVP, or do they go back to their 36-year-old legend that led the franchise to four Super Bowls?

They decided to stay with Young and traded Montana to the Kansas City Chiefs. Both quarterbacks lost in the Conference Championship Games and, in 1994, the grudge match went down in Kansas City. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if the game had been at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

This time the master beat the apprentice. Montana went 19-for-31 with 203 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks and a 101.9 QB rating. Young was not as sharp going 24-for-34 with 288 passing yards and one touchdown, but two picks and an 81.5 QB rating as the Chiefs would go on to win 24-17.

Young, however, had the last laugh that season. He would go on to lead the 49ers to a 13-3 record throwing for 35 touchdowns and 10 picks, while posting a then NFL record 112.8 QB rating, surpassing the record of 112.4 set by Joe Montana in 1989. That earned Young his second regular season MVP award. The 49ers would go on to win the Super Bowl 49-26 and Young would win the MVP of that game throwing a Super Bowl record six touchdown passes. Montana did lead the Chiefs to another playoff appearance, but lost in the Wild Card Round to the Miami Dolphins.

 

There have been a lot of good players that switched teams, but I think those were 10 of the most memorable games, and the most memorable players to switch teams. I remember all but the Stabler playoff game, because I was only two-years-old at the time.

If you’d like to interject another player into the debate that you think I missed, feel free to do so. There is no arguing though that these 10 players meant a lot to their franchises and it was very strange to see them wear other uniforms at the end of their careers against their former teams, with which they established themselves.

Where does Favre fit in on this list? He is either No. 1 or 2; the only name that is really in the conversation is Montana. Part of where he will eventually rank depends on how he does this season, and part of it depends on his successor, Aaron Rodgers.

We have never seen anything like what happened in 1994, because it was two Hall of Fame quarterbacks going toe to toe. If Rodgers goes on to have a Hall of Fame career, these games are going to be epic contests. If he doesn't, they will still be remembered, because of what Favre meant to Green Bay and the feathers it ruffled both in the Packer front office and with the fan base by his returning to Green Bay in a Viking uniform.

It just will have more intrigue to it if Rodgers ends up doing what Young did, because the debate about who was right and who was wrong will have more back and forth.

Imagine if the Vikings go on to win the Super Bowl this year, but Rodgers ends up being a Hall of Fame quarterback that leads the Packers to multiple Super Bowls down the road? Both sides will have been right, then. 

Favre's first performance against his former Packers was masterful (although not at Lambeau field). You saw what Smith did against Dallas; Favre was on the other end of the spectrum. He went 24-for-31 with 271 yards, three touchdowns, zero picks and a 135.3 QB rating, his highest rating in a game in which he played the full game since his Monday Night Game in 2007 when he threw an 82-yard game winning pass to WR Greg Jennings on the first play of OT. It is probably one of the best performances by a player against a former team, especially by one at the end of his career days from turning 40-years-old.

The treat for NFL fans is that we get to see a rematch, something we rarely see in these types of meetings. Usually the veteran player goes to the other conference. It took us four seasons to see Bruce Smith finally return to Buffalo. We saw Young and Montana a year later, but there was no rematch. We get to see two games in the span of a month between these two foes.

I'm still going with Montana and Young as the best grudge match of all time. There were a lot of hard feelings between Montana and Young and both wanted to show the 49ers that they were the better player. Favre is in Montana's class, they are both First Ballot Hall of Fame All Time Great Legends of the Game. The problem is that Young is a Hall of Famer and Rodgers is still in the beginning of his career.

That said, Packers vs. Vikings is a much bigger rivalry than 49ers vs. Chiefs, two teams that had zero connection to each other prior to that trade. This game has first place riding on it and Favre gets to go before the fans that cheered his name for so many years. I don't think Montana would have been booed in San Francisco, in fact, I think he would have received a standing ovation.

I think it is going to be a mixed chorus of cheers and boos for Favre. The emotions in this game will run much higher and the implications will last much longer as the 2009 season progresses. It is going to be incredible to watch, a regular season game for first place with emotion that we may never see again.  

 

What are your thoughts? Are you pumped for the game?

Hope Favre takes it to the Packers? Hope the Packers show Favre that they were right to go with Rodgers? Just want the story to go away?

Let us know your thoughts on both this game and your favorite grudge matchup in NFL history.