The 10 Best "Revenge Games" of the 2011 NFL Season

Sports television executives love a good storyline. And no storyline rings the cash register quite like an NFL homecoming. Just ask the suited folks at ESPN, who notched a cable-TV-record  21.8 million viewers for their coverage of Brett Favre’s return to Green Bay on Monday Night Football.

With more player movement this offseason than any other in NFL history, there will be plenty of old friends locking horns in 2011. Nothing will likely top the Favre spectacle in 2009, but NFL fans can look forward to some pretty tantalizing grudge matches between players who have moved on and the fanbases they spurned.

In what I’m terming “revenge games”—and I’m open to better labels—I’ve ranked the top ten homecomings of the upcoming season.

Let the boo birds fly.

Note: I weighted this list towards games where the returning player is playing on the road and in front of his old fanbase.

10. Week 15: Redskins at Giants (Barry Cofield)

Defensive tackles—Albert Haynesworth excepted—don’t usually engender much hatred. And Cofield would be no different except that he took more money to play for an inferior division rival. Expect a modified version of the Jayson Werth treatment when he returns to the New Meadowlands.

9. Week 2: Bears at Saints (Olin Kreutz)

Kreutz gets to play the jilted lover in this tangle with his old team. Kreutz gave the Bears 12 good years before Chicago let him walk. So you’ll have to forgive Olin if the Saints come in playing at a high level and he takes a little extra pleasure in the victory. Snapping the ball to Drew Brees usually makes for a happy center.

OK, so the breakup wasn't actually that acrimonious (Kreutz really just wanted a title shot), but I'm guessing the production guys at FOX will try to stir up something.

8. Week 9: 49ers at Redskins (Carlos Rogers)

Carlos Rogers never really lived up to the expectations placed on him when the Redskins drafted him ninth overall. Champ Bailey he was not (gah! those terrible, terrible hands) and eventually he and the Redskins parted ways.

When Landover goes all boo-berry on him, think of it more as a referendum on Daniel Snyder’s pathetic drafting than an indictment of Rogers’ underachievement.

7. Week 3: San Francisco at Cincinnati (Nate Clements)

It didn’t make much sense then and it doesn’t make much sense now. But someone in the 49ers' brain trust decided to made Nate Clements the highest paid defensive player in football and it turned out about as well as we all expected it would. Clements gave San Francisco some solid seasons, but didn’t make a single Pro Bowl appearance during his years by the Bay and the 49ers eventually cut him this off-season.

And so the Bengals scooped him up on the cheap—because decent DBs never die in the NFL—and Clements will get his chance to stick it to his former employer in Week 3. A pick or two off Alex Smith would only add to the post-Garcia misery of Niners’ fans. As if it could really get worse.

6. Week 14: Eagles at Dolphins (Ronnie Brown)

At one time Ronnie Brown looked like the second coming of Mercury Morris. Anyone who saw him command the wildcat offense in the Dolphins’ 2008 upset win over the Patriots probably would have thought he was due for bigger things. But then the wildcat passed out of vogue and Brown started losing playing time to a post-rehab Ricky Williams.

Now, after signing a paltry one-year $1 million contract with the Eagles, he’s a 29-year-old backup. I’ll be interested to see how Dolphins fans, not known for boorish behavior, treat the one-time franchise halfback when he returns to South Beach.

5. Week 8: Cardinals at Ravens (Todd Heap)

I expect Baltimore to grant the two-time All-Pro a warm reception upon his return to Charm City. Heap was one of the most popular players during some of the franchise’s best years and his departure owed itself more to the franchise's finances than his own demands.

Look forward to a couple of hearty “Heeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaap” calls during warm-ups before the battle begins and the pleasantries evaporate.

4. Week 10: Cardinals at Eagles (Kevin Kolb)

As an Eagles fan I want to give Kevin Kolb a huge hug. We landed an all-star DB and a second-rounder on the hopes that this dude, who has thrown more picks than TDs in his career, might be good. Thanks, Kevin, for whatever you put in the Cardinals’ Kool-Aid.

Of course Philly fans may be less forgiving by Week 10 if Kolb has realized his franchise QB potential. If that’s the case, it won’t be all cuddles and kisses.

By the way, there’s an undercard on this one with underachieving MLB Stewart Bradley returning to the Linc. He may even get rougher treatment than Kolb.

Oh and then there’s Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie matching up with Arizona’s wideouts, possibly even Larry Fitzgerald. This one’s dripping with intrigue.

3. Week 16: Vikings at Redskins (Donovan McNabb)

Donovan McNabb didn’t make many friends during his year in the nation’s capital. Though high expectations were partially to blame, McNabb did little to lift the moribund franchise and questions about his conditioning surely resonate with 'Skins fans.

If McNabb is starting and succeeding in Minnesota by Week 16 while the Redskins stumble through another losing season, the bad blood will only thicken.

2. Week 14: Patriots at Redskins (Albert Haynesworth)

If you love the sound of a long, lusty, unanimous “boo,” then make sure you’re tuned in for the introductions of this game. In a mere 20 months, Haynesworth turned into an all-time Landover super villain, burning bridges with every player, coach and fan within reach. He went from All-Pro to non-participant and somehow became the lowlight of Dan Snyder’s ignominious tenure as Redskins owner.

That’s low.

There will be little love lost when the big fella rolls into town on wheels purchased with burgundy and gold dollars.

1. Week 16: Giants at Jets (Plaxico Burress)

As if the quadrennial matchup between the Giants and Jets needed any more heat, one of the Giants’ most controversial players of the past decade (and that’s saying something) makes his return in front of the Big Blue faithful. The fact that this regular season finale could mean something to one or both playoff hopefuls only adds to the pot.

Which Plax will the Giants fans who manage to sneak in the door remember? The mercurial talent who led them to the franchise’s third Super Bowl victory? Or the bozo who sunk a potential dynasty and then flirted with returning to the team before picking the crosstown rival?

My guess? The latter. There will be boos-a-plenty my friends.